


The Making of Monsters

by Tenshinrtaiga



Series: The Monster series [1]
Category: Secret Circle (TV), Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-13
Updated: 2013-10-10
Packaged: 2017-12-23 10:04:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 38,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/925060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tenshinrtaiga/pseuds/Tenshinrtaiga
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prequel to Here Be Monsters. "Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." -Nietzsche. Cassie is 12 when she first discovers that she's a witch. But as she falls deeper into the supernatural, she begins to feel even less human and even more like the monsters she meets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Cassie squinted, as she tried to avoid the glare of the sun. This proved to be pretty much impossible, but she wasn’t sure what she expected given the fact that she was currently in the middle of the desert. And it was summer.

She decided right then and there that she hated the heat. It didn’t matter how Vegas was ‘fun’ and ‘amazing’ and whatever else her mother came up with. Nothing could detract from the ever present, ever sweltering heat.

Thankfully, Amelia was a serial nomad so Cassie wouldn’t be forced to spend too long in this godforsaken wasteland. Of course, one could argue that any amount of time was too long, but Cassie had learned to be patient when it came to her mother. Cassie didn’t know why they were constantly moving, but at age twelve, she had long since accepted it as a way of life. At least for her.

“Cassie?” her mother’s familiar voice called out into their backyard. The term backyard was relative however since they were currently living in a trailer. “Can you do me a favor, sweetie?”

Cassie gave a small huff of annoyance as she turned around to face her mother. “What?”

“Can you run to the market?” Amelia asked, wiping her hands on a towel. “We’ve run out of milk and I need it to finish cooking dinner.” Amelia reached into her apron and pulled out a five dollar bill.

The blonde pre-teen walked over to her mom to grab the money and swiftly left the trailer park, heading toward the nearest store. Anything was better than her stale boredom. At least they hadn’t moved in the middle of the school year this time. There was nothing she hated more than being the perpetual ‘new girl’.

Cassie hummed lightly as she grabbed a carton of milk and paid. She stepped outside and turned to head home. “Oomph!” she cried out as she ran into something much taller and more solid than herself. She dropped her shopping bag as she bounced off of whatever it was she ran into.

“Watch where you’re going,” a male voice sneered from above her.

Cassie craned her head upward and sneered. “You watch it, pal.” She looked down and groaned as she noticed that her carton of milk had exploded upon being dropped on the cement. “You owe me another carton of milk,” she grumbled.

The strawberry blond man looked down at her with a glare. “What was that? I don’t owe you anything. You need a pair of glasses, kid.”

The small blonde sputtered indignantly. “I am not a kid!” she stated firmly, resisting the urge to stomp her foot angrily. “And I do not need glasses. Maybe you’re the one who needs glasses, old man,” Cassie sneered.

The man’s jaw clenched and genuine anger flared into his eyes. For a second, Cassie felt a chill of fear make its way down her spine, but she just tossed her head back and glared right back.

“I think its time someone showed you some manners.” Before Cassie could scream out, the man gripped her arm and in a blur of motion, Cassie soon found herself in a secluded alleyway several blocks from the store.

“How did you…” Cassie asked, trailing off in confusion as she took a look at her surrounding. How did they move so fast? Cassie turned to look at him but bit off a startled scream when she saw his visage. His eyes were dark and veined and his mouth was open, baring sharp fangs.

The minute the scream left her throat, he moved in another blur of motion. She wasn’t sure how it happened, but one second he was standing in front of her and the next he had picked her up and buried his face in her neck. It took her several seconds to catch on to what was going on but when she did, she began to fiercely struggle. She wedged her hands between their bodies and tried to shove him away, but it did no good. She bent her knees to place her feet flat against the alley wall, hoping to push off of it and gain enough momentum to break away, but again he didn’t budge.

Just as her body began to beg for sleep and her eyes began to flicker shut, she gave one last ditch effort at pushing him away. Something odd happened. It felt like there was a tug deep inside her body and suddenly she was free. Without the man holding her up, she fell to the ground in a painful heap. It was only once she saw the man in front of her, staring at her with surprised eyes and his mouth coated in blood, that she realized that her neck even hurt.

Cassie reached a hand up, but pulled away with a wince at the throbbing pain. She looked down and noticed that her appendage was coated with blood. “You bit me?” she asked in dazed confusion.

“Yes,” the man answered, getting up from where he had been pushed. His eyes started to lose their surprise and instead began staring at her in re-evaluation. “This is interesting.”

“What is?” Cassie asked, leaning her head back against the wall in an effort to keep her eyes on the man while still resting. She wanted to sleep. Her body begged for rest. She mentally noted that it was probably the blood loss. “Your freaky as fuck interest in biting little girls? ‘Cause I already knew that.”

The man gave a warm chuckle; a totally inappropriate sound given that he had just attacked her. “No, that’s actually rather normal for me.” He ignored Cassie choked sound of surprised horror. “Minus the little girls bit. I prefer my meals to be older. Early twenties, actually. But, no. I was referring to that bit of magic you just did.”

Cassie would have screamed and ran if she had the energy. It was bad enough that this freak had attacked her, but to know that he did it frequently? What, did he think he was some sort of vampire or something? “Magic?” she asked instead. “God, you’re genuinely out of your mind,” she realized. She had hoped for crazy-anger because at least then she had a chance of survival if he felt remorse afterward – at least that was what all the cop shows said. But if he was genuinely buckets-o-crazy then she was never getting out of this alive.

God, and the last conversation she’d had with her mother had been about milk. Those were terrible last words.

“No, actually, I’m not.” The man squatted down in front of her and reached out for her.

Cassie flinched in fear, but had no energy to do anything more. She was surprised when all he did was reach out to gently turn her head, giving him a good view of her wound.

“Hmm. I got you good,” he muttered, a hint of pride in his voice before he gave a small sigh. “Course I wish I knew you were a witch before I took a chunk out of you. Ah well.”

Cassie wanted to ask what he was talking about. Magic? Witches? Did he actually expect her to buy any of that? But before she could open her mouth to ask, her eyes widened in horror. His face had once again changed into that of a monster’s and she wondered for a moment how she could have forgotten that his face had transformed before she was attacked. Just as she was about to reevaluate her opinions on the reality of monsters, he bit down on his own wrist and held the gaping wound to her lips.

She naturally turned her head away from the blood, trying desperately to resist the urge to lick her lips clean given that they were currently coated in the substance.

The man gave an impatient sigh and reached out and forcefully turned her head back to his bleeding wrist, giving her no choice. “Drink,” he demanded. When Cassie still refused, he reached out to plug her nose. Cassie continued to resist but soon began thrashing, fighting for air. After another minute, her mouth opened in a desperate attempt for air. She received the much needed oxygen, but not without several mouthfuls of blood to go with it.

In an instant, the wrist was gone and Cassie was left choking on air and blood, gagging desperately as her body begged to throw up. She managed to keep that nausea down and after a moment, calmed enough to glare up at the man. “You are some sick freak,” she grunted out through tearing eyes. If he was going to kill her, then she might as well tell the bastard what she really thought of him.

“Maybe,” he admitted with a casual shrug. “But at least I know who and what I am. Which is more than I can say for you. Tell me, what is it like to walk around knowing that you’re different from everyone else, yet not knowing why?”

Cassie flinched. How did he know about that? How could he possibly know how she felt? Was there anyway that his words held truth? No, it was impossible. And yet, Cassie couldn’t help but remember his monstrous visage; he had fangs and veined eyes. How was that possible? “What do you want?” she asked instead.

The man shrugged. “At the moment, I’m more interested in what you want. And how I can help you get there.”

“Why would you want to help me? You tried to kill me,” she pointed out.

“And yet I didn’t. In fact, I healed you when I didn’t have to. I could have left you for dead.” Cassie looked at him in confusion, causing him to smile lightly. “Check out your throat.”

The blonde girl’s hand automatically reached up toward her wound. Her eyes widened when she felt smooth skin underneath the sticky coating of blood. Delayed, her brain suddenly caught on to the fact that her neck was no longer in pain. “What did you do? How did you-”

“I think it’s time I tell you about the truth about the world,” the man said. “You see, vampires are real. Werewolves are real. And witches, like yourself, exist. There are a whole host of other creatures out there that live side by side next to humans with no one any wiser to it.”

Cassie swallowed hard at the words he said. One the one hand, how was she meant to believe any of this? It was utter absurdity. On the other, how could she just ignore all the evidence that had been placed before her? His face, her neck, the healing… It just kept piling up.

“Who are you?” she finally asked.

The man smirked and squatted down so that they were face to face. “My name is Klaus.”

A while later, Cassie found herself slowly walking home, accompanied by the very man who had so viciously attacked her. She wondered if this happened often to vampires because it had certainly never happened to her before. “Are you sure?” she asked for what felt like the millionth time, still unable to believe it.

Klaus gave a small sigh and she got the feeling that he would have rolled his eyes if he hadn’t been above that. “Yes, Cassie, I’m certain. You are a witch.”

“But how do you know?” she insisted.

“Magic,” Klaus deadpanned. At Cassie’s disbelieving look, he chuckled. “No, really. You used magic on me. Do you remember when I had you pinned to that alley wall?”

“No,” Cassie replied sarcastically. “I’ve completely forgotten in the last twenty minutes since it happened.” She knew that getting sassy with the homicidal vampire was a bad idea, but she just couldn’t help herself. Her mom said that Cassie’s mouth liked to run away without her brain, and she was mature enough to admit that her mother was right.

Klaus, meanwhile, was uncertain whether to chuckle at her cheeky response or glare angrily. Instead, he opted to simply ignore the reply. “You were trying to shove me away and failing quite miserably. It’s to be expected; no human can go up against a vampire in terms of strength and win. But at the last minute, you managed to accomplish just that. Therefore, magic,” he explained.

“How do you know it wasn’t something else?” Cassie continued to question. “Maybe I’m not a witch, maybe I’m… well, I don’t know. But something.” Cassie was still new to the supernatural world and wasn’t sure what was out there. How was she supposed to separate fact from fiction? The myth about vampires burning in the sun was obviously crap since Klaus was currently walking down the streets of sunny Las Vegas with her.

“If you were something else, I think you’d know. There are very few creatures that are capable of being so similar to humans that they don’t even know themselves that they are not. If you were a vampire, you would have to have died. If you were a werewolf, you would have to have committed murder. So unless there’s something you haven’t told me – a literal body in your closet, perhaps – then you are, in fact, a witch,” Klaus stated firmly, finally fed up with Cassie’s doubts.

Cassie paused, taking a moment to allow his words to soak in. Klaus stopped too, choosing to stare at her as though she were some sort of fascinating specimen. Cassie nibbled on her lower lip as she pondered. It felt like the world had tilted off it’s axis and no one had noticed but her. How could the world keep spinning like everything was normal when vampires, witches and werewolves were real?

“So, what now?” she asked softly as she began to walk once more, this time going at an even slower pace. She was almost home, but she wanted more time to talk to Klaus. It was hard to believe that she wanted to spend time with someone who attacked her and tried to kill her, but her need to know was too great; her curiosity needed to be satisfied. Her mother always warned her that curiosity was Cassie’s most dangerous trait. Cassie had never really understood what that meant until now.

“I would like to train you,” Klaus offered, uncharacteristically magnanimous.

Cassie looked at him suspiciously. She had only known Klaus a few scant minutes, but even she could tell that he was being abnormally nice. Klaus was not a nice guy. Nice guys didn’t try and kill little girls. Therefore, the question became: “Why?” she asked warily.

He shrugged in what was meant to be a casual gesture however the amused smirk gave away his true feelings. Cassie amused him like no other. Some way, some how, she managed to get him, understand him. At least enough to know better than to trust him. Which, to be quite honest, was about as far as anyone tended to understand him. “An unskilled witch is a danger. If people find out about your magic, it won’t be long until they figure out what other supernatural creatures are real,” he said, starting out simply. “That being said, having a witch indebted to me can only help in the long run. Especially one as powerful as you.”

“And I’d be indebted to you because you helped me learn magic?” Cassie asked. “Maybe I’ll just learn it on my own,” she challenged.

“You’re certainly welcome to try,” Klaus offered knowingly. “But there is a lot of false information in the world and a lot of dangerous magic. It would behoove you to take me up on my offer.”

Cassie once more began to worry her lower lip, a nervous habit she had picked up from her mom. “How can you teach me?” she finally asked, seeing no other alternatives. She wanted to learn. She had to. The feeling burned inside of her like hot coals. She was different than the others; special. She had to know more. “You’re not a witch,” she stated with some certainty, but there was still a sliver of question there. She assumed he wasn’t a witch, but she didn’t know that.

Sensing that hidden question, Klaus smirked. He knew he had her. Her curiosity would be her downfall. Now that he knew her weakness, he would use it against her. “No, I am not. I am a hybrid; half vampire, half werewolf. The only one of my kind. But the werewolf side of me was locked away under a curse. I’ll get to that later.” There, that was enough information to keep her curious about him for quite a while. “As for how I can teach you, I have been around for a very long time and have known many witches. I’ve picked up a few things; enough to get you started, at least. And once you’ve progressed, I can introduce you to more witches that you can learn from.” And there was the carrot to his stick. Yes, Cassie didn’t trust him, probably didn’t even like him. He was dangerous. But if she put up with him, she would get to learn magic and meet other witches.

The subtle bribe was too much for Cassie to take. “I’m in,” she agreed, unaware of Klaus’ growing satisfaction. He had her snagged. Now all he had to do was endear himself to her and he would have a willing witch at his beck and call.

This was a rare opportunity, one that he loathed to give up. Sure, he had witches working for him, but mostly out of fear or lust for power. They had all grown up hating vampires, as all witches were taught from birth. But here was a little baby witch who had no idea who or what she was and didn’t have any sort of preconceived notions about him. If he could mold her correctly while she was still a kid, he would have a trustworthy weapon for decades to come.

“Excellent. We can start now,” Klaus began to say but stopped once Cassie began shaking her head. “What?” he asked in annoyance.

“I have to go home,” she answered. “My mom’s waiting for me.”

“Another witch?” Klaus perked up at the idea.

Again, Cassie shook her head. “Mom can’t be a witch. She would have told me something like that by now if she were.”

The strawberry blond man hummed in thought. “Then you must get your powers from your father,” he finally decided.

Cassie’s eyes went wide at the thought. “My father?” she asked breathily. Her mom never talked about her dad. Amelia said that it was too painful. All Cassie knew was that his name was John and that he died a long time ago, before Cassie was even born. Could it be that her father was a witch and that he had never told her mother? Cassie glowed with happiness and excitement. For the first time, she felt a connection with the man who sired her. “He was a witch?”

“Warlock,” Klaus absent mindedly corrected, the look of contemplation still in his eye. It was certainly possible that Cassie’s powers came from her father, but something still nagged at him. He just got the feeling that there was more to the story than that. And as much as he despised his mother, she was certainly good for one thing and that was his inherited intuition. Gut feelings were never just gut feelings in his family. Klaus knew that he would be doing quite a bit of background checking into this little witch’s family. Sensing Cassie’s inquisitive look, Klaus shook his thoughts off. “Well, then. Let’s get you back to your mother. Wouldn’t want her to worry,” he chuckled. Stopping now had the added bonus of keeping Cassie dangling on a cliff. She now had a connection to her father that she had previously been looking for and the only way to explore it was to continue to come back and see Klaus. Cassie would be desperate for answers and thus willing to do anything to help Klaus. This was working out better than he had planned.

Cassie frowned. She wanted to hear more; learn more. But she also knew that she had to return home. She was already much later than she had intended and knew that her mother must be worried about her. Cassie turned on her heel and continued to walk home, aware of Klaus’ presence as he continued to follow her. Soon, they stood in front of the trailer park where Cassie lived. She watched as Klaus’ eyes assessed the area. She shifted uncomfortably under his judging scrutiny, but said nothing. Her mother had gotten pregnant in high school and barely had her diploma. Amelia was forced to work mediocre, dead end jobs in order to provide for herself and for Cassie. Las Vegas was an expensive city and this was the best Amelia could afford while they were there. Luckily, however, the mother and daughter never stayed in one place long. Hopefully, the next town will be smaller and can afford the family the luxury of a cheap apartment.

Getting off topic, Cassie forcibly dragged her thoughts back to the here and now. “So what happens now?” she asked softly.

Klaus dragged his gaze away from the rows of what quite honestly looked like tin cans. “Now you return home. Find me tomorrow in the alley way from earlier at 1 pm. Do not be late.” Before Cassie could protest, Klaus was gone in a blur of vampiric speed and motion.

Cassie gaped lightly at the empty space before getting a hold of herself. She had to get used to this new supernatural world. She couldn’t keep getting surprised. For some reason, she just knew that having the lower hand would not end well for her when it came to Klaus. Unwittingly, her hand reached up to touch her healed neck, the memory of pain and horror flashing through her mind. No, it would definitely not end well.

The blonde girl gave a sigh and walked to her trailer, her feet taking her there aimlessly. Soon, she was at her front door. She opened the door, knowing that it would be unlocked while her mother was home waiting for her.

“Cassie!” a relieved voice breathed and the next thing Cassie knew, she was wrapped in a warm and familiar embrace. Cassie allowed herself to relax as she fell into her mom’s hug. It had been a long day and she needed the comfort. She could return to being a rebellious pre-teen in a minute. “Where have you been? I was so worried!” Amelia cried softly into her daughter’s blond hair.

“I’m fine, mom,” Cassie finally replied as she extricated herself from the embrace. “Nothing happened.”

“Nothing happened,” Amelia said skeptically. “Then why are you over an hour late and where’s the milk I asked you to buy?”

Cassie blinked in surprise before looking down at her hand as if surprised not to find a gallon of milk in her grasp. “I forgot,” she replied honestly. She had dropped it when she bumped into Klaus and despite her determination to get the hybrid to pay for a new one, it had all fallen to the wayside in the wake of her attack and subsequent revelation.

“You forgot,” Amelia said flatly, her arms crossing in anger as the worry and fear disappeared and made way for fury. “I was so worried about you and you’re telling me what exactly?”

The blonde girl shrugged lightly as she studiously avoided meeting her mother’s gaze. “I was on the way to the market when I met a new friend. We started talking and I didn’t realize the time until a little while ago. I knew that you would be worried, so I came back. I forgot about the milk.” Cassie tried to tell as much truth as possible while still completely hiding all the important bits. It suddenly occurred to her that perhaps she shouldn’t be lying at all. Maybe she should be confessing the truth. If her father was a warlock, maybe her mother would be able to tell Cassie something so that she wouldn’t be forced to rely on Klaus.

Cassie opened her mouth to tell the truth when suddenly another thought occurred to her. If her mother knew about magic, surely she would have told Cassie by now, right? Or maybe that was the real reason that Amelia never wanted to talk about John. Was Cassie’s mom afraid of magic? If she found out, would she fear Cassie too? Would she hate Cassie?

Cassie shut her mouth once more. No. It was better to find out more about magic first. Maybe she could research her father and his family. Maybe she could discover her link to her magic first before discussing it with her mother. What if Amelia didn’t believe Cassie? No, it was better to learn more first. That way, if Cassie did decide to tell her mother, she could do something to show Amelia; to prove that what Cassie was saying was true. Or to fix things if Cassie’s first thought was true and Amelia hated magic…

Shaking her head, she forced herself out of that line of thought. Cassie didn’t know what her family was hiding so it was no use speculating. It was better to just dive in head first and worry about the consequences later. Despite her deep wariness of Klaus, she felt that he would indeed help her on this like he promised. For now, she would just have to go with her gut.

“Cassie, are you even listening to me?” Amelia asked sternly once she noticed that her daughter appeared to be completely spacing out.

“What?” the blonde girl asked, startled. “Yes,” she lied. “I’m sorry, I won’t do it again.” She reached out to give her mother a quick hug before quickly retreating deeper into the trailer. “I’m feeling tired. I think I’m just going to go to bed. Night, mom.”

“But what about dinner?” Amelia protested, but Cassie just waved her mom off. The truth was Cassie was way too wired up to sleep, but she just wanted some peace and quiet away from her mother. She knew that if she had to sit in front of her mom and eat dinner, that Amelia would figure out something was up and would try and grill her. It was better that Cassie shake off her nerves in her room by herself.

As Cassie threw herself back on her bed, she let out a deep breath. Today had started out like any other and yet… it had been a day that changed her life.

She closed her eyes and continued to breathe deeply, trying to calm herself. She couldn’t wait to see Klaus tomorrow. She was so excited to start learning about this new phase in her life.

As she continued to breathe, her eyes began to grow genuinely tired as the adrenaline from the day began to wear off and her limbs began to grow heavy. Her last thoughts before deep sleep were on what magic she would be learning.

“Cassie! Wake up!”

Cassie started awake the next morning, blinking incomprehensively at the door where her mother’s voice was coming from. “Wha…?” she asked blearily, still incoherent from sleep.

“It’s almost noon, sweetie. You’ve been sleeping all day,” Amelia called out to her daughter worriedly. “Are you feeling okay? Are you sick?” she asked.

Cassie groaned and fell back into bed. “I’m fine. I’m going back to sleep,” she replied, tugging her blankets back over her head. She heard her mother walk away and closed her eyes, eager for more rest. Cassie was just on the brink of sleep when suddenly her eyes snapped open. “Noon!?” she shrieked and she raced out of bed. She grabbed a hair tie from the top of her dresser and quickly tied her hair back in a messy ponytail as she raced into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She quickly returned to her room and began throwing her clothes around looking for something clean to wear. Cassie glanced over at her clock and winced at the numbers glaring right back at her. She quickly tugged on a pair of ratty denim shorts and a baby blue tank top. She stuck her cell phone in her back pocket and ran out the door.

“Cassie?” her mom cried out in alarm as the blonde whirled right past her mom and out the door. “Where are you going?” Amelia cried out from their trailer door as she watched Cassie hastily make her way out the gates of the trailer park.

“Going to a friend’s,” Cassie cried back, waving her arm in goodbye but not turning around.

“Well, at least she’s making friends,” Amelia murmured as she returned to the house, recalling how much Cassie disliked Las Vegas. “I suppose that’s a good thing.”

Cassie was out of breath by the time she reached the alley way from yesterday. Seeing that it was still empty, she braced herself against a brick wall and tried to regain her breath. She glanced down at her watch to see it was three minutes until one. She had made it on time, but where was Klaus.

Cassie frowned as, for a moment, she wondered if she hadn’t dreamt the whole thing up in her mind. Her hand reached up to feel her neck. She half wished Klaus hadn’t healed her yesterday. If he hadn’t, she would have proof for herself. She would know that it had happened.

Just as the doubts began to truly get to her, she heard the sound of a car coming near. She turned to face the mouth of the alley, hoping that it would be Klaus and her hope was rewarded. Klaus stopped the car right in front and Cassie moved out to the sidewalk when it became clear that he would not be parking or exiting the vehicle. “Get in,” Klaus commanded as soon as she got close enough to hear him.

“What’s up? I thought we were meeting in there,” Cassie asked as she tossed her head to the side to indicate the alley where he had first attacked her.

“Yes. We’ve met. Now get in.” Cassie hesitated, unsure whether it would be safe to get in the car. She bit her lower lip nervously causing Klaus to sigh with impatience. “If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it yesterday,” he said, tapping his fingers irritably.

Nodding in agreement with the thought, Cassie reached out and opened the passenger side door of the large black SUV and climbed in. Soon, they were off. “Where are we going?” she asked, idly running her fingers over the buttons on the door handle. She had never been in a car this shiny and new.

“My apartment,” Klaus replied shortly.

Again, Cassie felt hesitant. Was it really safe to go to the apartment of this virtual stranger? She hardly knew him and what she did know of him told her that he was violent with little care for other’s harm.

Then again, he had made a good point. If he wanted her dead, there was no point in taking her to his place first. He could have killed her yesterday. Or gotten out of his car and snapped her neck today. He seemed like the type to have no problem doing something like that.

She was startled out of her thoughts when Klaus abruptly stopped the car. Looking around, she realized that she was in a private underground car park. At the sound of a car door opening, she turned to face Klaus to find him already out of the car and closing the door. Hastily, Cassie climbed out as well and quickly ran to catch up to the man who was already walking toward an elevator in the back. She followed him inside and watched as he pressed the PH button. She had never been in a penthouse before, but she knew that it was the most expensive apartment of them all. She felt wistful at the notion. She wondered what it must be like for a vampire; to be able to have whatever they wanted, to live forever in luxury.

“Welcome to my home,” Klaus announced as he stepped off of the elevator into an entranceway. “Living room, kitchen, bathroom,” he gestured around. “The rest is off limits.” He quickly shrugged out of his jacket and threw it on the back of his pristine white cloth couch. The whole apartment was sleek and modern, done it blacks and whites with only a few red accents. To be honest, she thought it fit the vampire image perfectly.

Following Klaus’ lead, she sat on the couch and turned to face him, waiting patiently. She had been high on nerves yesterday and today, but the car ride had calmed her down. She didn’t really know Klaus, but she had always been good at reading people – a skill that came from being the constant new girl at school – and she could tell that he had a razor temper. Yesterday, she had noticed that but had flagrantly danced over the line over and over again. Today was a new day however. She needed Klaus. She needed to know what he knew. It was best that she keep on his good side as much as possible until she no longer needed him. Of course, escaping from his grasp would prove to be another problem, but she would cross that bridge when she got to it.

Seeing how cooperative Cassie was being caused Klaus to smirk. He gave a small nod of acknowledgement for her actions before standing up to retrieve a book that had been left on the kitchen counter. He returned to the couch and handed it over. “This is one of the many grimoires that I have collected over the years,” he said. There was something in his tone of voice that made Cassie certain that the way he had collected them was through the death of their owners. With a small shiver, she reached out and took the book, hardly paying attention to Klaus as he returned to the kitchen, too focused on the book in front of her.

She flipped to the first page, her eyes skimming through it. It was a list of herbs – no, ingredients for a spell. On the bottom was a line of Latin with a poorly drawn picture of a flame next to it.

“It’s a spell for starting a fire,” Klaus spoke over her shoulder, startling her. Turning her head to face him, she blinked at the water bottle he held out to her. She reached out and slowly took the offered beverage as he came around to sit back down next to her, his own water in hand. “This book has got a good foundation for magic. Not much use for it otherwise.” He shrugged. It had no dark spells or ancient magic. The witch he had stolen it off of had been weak and unable to do much beyond the simplest of spells. He had been half tempted to throw the book away and yet he never had. That decision had come in handy today. “I’ll show you how to read and interpret the book. Once you know how to start, the rest you can learn by yourself from the book. It should take you a couple of weeks to master the spells. By then, I will have contacted a few of my witch friends and made arrangements for you to learn under them.”

“How?” Cassie asked. “My mom…” Her question trailed off.

Klaus shrugged easily. “Vampires have certain persuasive qualities,” he replied. “Just let me have a chat with her.” Cassie’s eyes widened in fear. It was one thing for her to endanger her own life, and there was no arguing that Klaus was a danger, but for her to risk her mother’s? As if sensing her thoughts, Klaus put a surprisingly calming hand on her thigh. “Relax, luv. Just a bit of compulsion. No harm.”

“Compulsion?” Cassie asked.

“It allows a vampire to control a human. I can make your mother think she’s sending you off to summer camp when in fact you will be training with my witches.” He allowed Cassie a moment to absorb his words. “What do you think?”

Cassie nibbled on her lip in hesitation, but they both knew what her answer was going to be. “I’m in.”


	2. Chapter 2

Cassie’s eyes were closed in concentration as she gently prodded her magical core. She had never wondered where her powers came from inside her own body before but Megara had her questioning everything. It had been almost two years since she met Klaus and discovered she was a witch. She had learned the basics of witchcraft, but this was the first time she had learned about being a witch. Meg taught her about what it meant to be joined with magic and why witches were connected to nature and balance.

She felt a disturbance in the air and her eyes fluttered open. Meg had said that she shouldn’t be able to feel or sense anything while she was exploring her core. The only exception would be if Cassie had gotten jostled which Meg had assured she would only do in emergencies. So what had brought Cassie out?

“Meg?” she called as she stood up from her seated position. She had been sitting cross-legged in a large and comfortable arm chair. Taking a quick glance at her phone confirmed that it had been a little less than an hour since she’d started her internal trance.

A familiar petite blonde came from the apartment’s entryway. “I’m sorry, Cassie. I forgot that this would happen. I didn’t mean for you to wake. Are you okay?” Megara asked, tucking a strand of short hair back behind her ears. Meg had recently chopped her hair into a bob and was still getting used to it.

Cassie nodded. “I’m fine, but what was that?”

“Remember how I told you that witches are nature’s balance? Well, when we’re deep in our core, we are more connected to nature than ever before. And thus we are more susceptible to anything that affects or goes against nature,” Meg explained.

“That would be me,” an unfamiliar voice popped up as a new woman appeared behind Meg. She too was blonde, but she was taller than Meg by a good few inches and her hair fell in a long, thick braid all the way to her lower back. She was thin, but not super tiny and her face still had a bit of baby fat to it. While Cassie was assessing the new woman, she was assessing Cassie right back. “Who’s the kid?” she finally asked Meg.

“The kid is almost fourteen and not a kid,” Cassie replied instead of her mentor. “And since you disrupted me, maybe you should introduce yourself first.”

The girl gave a smile at the sassy response, clearly pleased with Cassie’s attitude. “I’m Lexi.”

“Cassie,” she introduced right back. “And the reason you managed to disturb me from my trance?”

Lexi smirked before plopping down in one of the chairs in the living room. Meg followed at a much more sedate pace. “Don’t tell me I’m your first vampire.” Lexi smirked, watching Cassie’s face for a reaction.

Cassie merely blinked as she thought about the clues given to her. Lexi said she was what disrupted her and Meg said that the disruption was caused by something that went against nature. “That makes sense,” she replied. Cassie’s next thought was that it must suck to be stuck with your body’s baby fat for eternity.

Lexi blinked in surprise at Cassie’s lack of reaction. She turned with a questioning look toward her friend Meg. Meg smiled in response before explaining. “Cassie was discovered by a vampire. She has no fear toward your kind.”

Lexi turned a worried eye toward the young blonde. “Not all vampires are nice,” she warned.

Automatically, Cassie’s hand went up to her neck, her gaze cloudy as she became lost in a memory. “I know that,” she said aloud, her thumb caressing the spot where Klaus had once bit her. There wasn’t a scar; Klaus’ blood had healed her completely. But she still remembered and sometimes she’d swear she still felt a pinch of pain in the area; an ache that would always remind her; a connection to the man who had changed her whole world.

“You okay, kid?” Lexi asked. “Hello? Hello? Anyone home?” She waved her hand in front of Cassie’s face, drawing the blonde out of her thoughts.

“What?” Cassie asked in confusion, her mind returning to reality. “Oh, right, yes. Sorry about that.” She grinned sheepishly. She hadn’t intended to allow her mind to wander but her memories of Klaus tended to capture her attention.

“Where were you at?” Lexi asked, curious as to what her mention of vampires had brought up in the young girl.

“Cassie was discovered by a vampire,” Meg repeated, but even she didn’t know the full story.

Cassie gave a soft sigh, but figured there would be no harm in telling them her story. “It was almost two years ago now… I had just moved to Vegas and to be quite honest, I completely hated it. I had gone out on some stupid errand – I can’t even remember what it was – when I bumped into him.”

“Him?” Lexi asked, leaning forward in curiosity. Not a lot of vampires lived in desert climates; too much sun and not enough hours of darkness in the night. Her mind quickly wandered to her best friend Stefan. He had a magical ring that allowed him to walk during the day without being burned. Was it possible that this vampire that discovered Cassie had one as well? These rings were rare and couldn’t help but wonder at the possibilities. Could it have been a Salvatore that Cassie met that night? Given the way she kept touching her neck, Lexi bet that Cassie had been bitten. And given the timeframe, that would have left Damon.

“…Yes.” Cassie was stuck. She hadn’t really thought this through. She knew that Klaus didn’t want his name getting around, especially in conjunction with her. She was still a young, practicing witch. If one of his enemies found out about his connection to her, bad things could happen. Even though she hadn’t seen him since that night, they still kept in contact through emails and phone calls and those things could easily be tracked if someone was looking. “Nik,” she fudged slightly. Meg knew that Cassie was working under Klaus, but there were many witches working for the hybrid. No one needed to know that Cassie knew him personally and kept in near constant contact with him.

Sensing that Cassie was hiding something, but not wanting to pressure the girl, Lexi merely nodded. “Then what happened?” she asked. Not a lot of vampires would have the patience to react well to getting knocked over by a little girl. Once again, her thoughts wandered to the Salvatores before quickly dismissing the thought. Damon would never have the consideration to help a child and Stefan was unlikely to attack one either. Plus, neither of them were named ‘Nik’ and had no nicknames that came even close.

Cassie shrugged. “Honestly? I mouthed off. Nik got pissed and bit me. I was completely terrified and my magic reacted, pushing him away. Instead of killing me, Nik changed his mind about me. He made a few calls, talked to some people, and the next thing I knew, I was in witch training. He compelled my mother to think I was in summer camp when I was really learning magic.” There, that was specific enough to get the two women off her back but vague enough that they had no way of knowing that Nik equaled Klaus. “What about you?” she asked Lexi, eager to get off the subject.

“Oh, well I was born in Paris, 1659,” Lexi started, “I was twenty-four when I was turned. I had married and bore two children by then. But I was always a free spirit and my husband never truly understood me. That was when I met a man, Elijah.”

Cassie nearly choked on her own spit. There was no way that this was the same Elijah she was thinking of. Klaus had mentioned a little about his older brother, but what were the chances?

“Elijah understood me, appreciated me. It wasn’t a love affair, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Lexi hastily corrected. “It was a friendship. A deep, honest and true friendship. I shared with him everything. I loved my family, but I longed for more. I wanted to see the world, to explore and travel and experience things I had never experienced before. Elijah was a traveler. When he first told me about his wanderings, I was so amazed that he could go to so many places and learn so much in what I had thought at the time was so little time. Of course, this was before I found out about his true nature; that he was a vampire.” Lexi chuckled lightly as she recalled a memory. “We had known each other for almost a year when he finally told me what he was. You would think that I would have been afraid or disbelieving, but by then, I looked at Elijah as one would a god. He knew so much and cared for me constantly, he looked out for me and my family, despite the fact that he did not know them. Elijah could have told me he was the devil, come to collect my soul and I would have willingly given my hand and allowed him to take me to hell. That was how much I trusted him.”

The young blonde looked up at Lexi in awe. This story was so amazing. She was still unsure whether this Elijah was Klaus’ brother, but it didn’t matter. Lexi’s history was awe inspiring. Cassie wondered what it was like in Paris at this time, to have experienced what the vampire had growing up.

“What happened next?” Meg asked, startling Cassie. The young witch had forgotten that the other woman was even there in the silence.

“I met Elijah’s younger brothers and everything changed,” Lexi replied bitterly, her face a mask of sorrow and pain. “Elijah and I were walking in the market when we first stumbled across them. At first, I thought the pair of them charming and handsome, so much like their elder brother. But they were nothing like Elijah. I could tell that the three did not particularly get along, but I thought nothing of it. Later, the two showed up at my home. I invited them in, intending to play hostess, but… they had no interest in pleasantries. They thought it funny that their brother was so close to me; a human,” she spat the word out as if it were dirty. “Kol destroyed my home, killed my servants before getting started on my family. And the worst was his older brother. Because as Kol slaughtered his way through my husband and children, Niklaus just laughed,” Lexi’s voice hitched in pain as she recalled the memories.

Cassie looked at her, horrified. There was no doubt about it now. This was definitely Klaus and his family. He had never mentioned a brother named Kol before, but there was no mistaking the rest.

The blonde knew that Klaus wasn’t a particularly good man. She remembered her own meeting with him after all, but to hear what he did to Lexi and her family. Well, technically, it was his lack of action. He just sat back and watched as his brother destroyed an entire household and for what? To punish his older brother Elijah?

“I’m so sorry,” Cassie whispered, reaching out to gently lay a hand on Lexi’s knee.

The vampire shrugged, trying to act casual, but it was evident that the memories of her husband and children still haunted her. “Kol drained me and then left me to bleed to death. I would have died if it weren’t for Elijah. He usually came by to visit with me right before bed, after my children were asleep and while my husband was busy working. For some reason, he felt the need to stop by earlier than usual and thank god he did.” She gave a wobbly smile. “He fed me his blood to try and heal me but it was too late. I died and then I went into transition. When I first became a vampire, I was so angry. My hatred had gotten amplified. I wanted to hunt his brothers down and kill them myself, but Elijah stopped me, explained to me why that was impossible. He spent the next sixty years with me, teaching me about being a vampire, helping me to calm my emotions. But then we ran across his sister, Rebekah and we were forced to separate. His brothers didn’t know I had survived let alone turned and it was better that they never found out. I still see Elijah every once and a while, usually just a quick check in so that he knows I’m safe and I know he’s still alive. But we have not been together since my turning,” she finished sadly with a hint of wistfulness, it was clear she still thought about her maker frequently and with much fondness.

Klaus had never mentioned a sister named Rebekah to Cassie either.

“How about we talk about something less somber,” Meg quietly suggested, once again bringing attention to herself. Cassie looked at her in contemplation. Meg knew about Klaus but did she realize that the monster in Lexi’s story was the same man? Not many people now-a-days knew Klaus’ full name; he hadn’t gone by it for several hundred years.

With a small sigh, Cassie let it go. There was no way of knowing without flat out asking and if Cassie did that and Meg didn’t know, she would be able to put it together. “I have to get going actually,” Cassie said as she stood up, stretching her back out from sitting still so long. “My mom is expecting me back for dinner.” She reached out and gave Meg, who had stood up also, a goodbye hug before turning to Lexi. “It was nice meeting you.”

“You too,” Lexi replied. “Why don’t I walk out with you? I need to be getting back soon too. My boyfriend’s gonna be missing me,” she said with a laugh. The two walked out of Meg’s apartment and headed down in the elevator. “So, how about you? Any boyfriends waiting for you at home?”

“You do remember that I’m only thirteen, right?” Cassie asked.

“Almost fourteen,” Lexi quoted with an amused smile. “And don’t think I didn’t notice how you avoided my question. Got any boyfriends at home?” she asked again.

“Nope.” Cassie shook her head with a chuckle. “Between school and magic, I don’t get a whole lot of time to socialize and when I do… well, let’s just say that I have long since gotten used to being the perpetual new girl.”

“So you move around a lot,” Lexi stated more than asked.

“My whole life.” Lexi shot Cassie an odd look, but Cassie didn’t elaborate. How could she? Even she didn’t know why her mom moved her around all the time. It’s not like she had some convenient excuse like some kids. Her mom wasn’t in the military or anything like that. Amelia just liked to move them every year or two. So, Cassie pretty much just told people her mom was a hippie who preferred the nomadic lifestyle. Not exactly the truth, but not exactly a lie either.

Sensing that it was a sensitive topic, Lexi attempted to lighten the mood. “Well, that just won’t do!” she exclaimed. “Every teenage girl needs to have fun and hang out! What are you doing tomorrow after school?”

“Uhm, homework?” Cassie replied hesitantly.

Lexi made a loud sound like a buzzer. “Wrong answer! The correct response was

‘hanging at the mall with my new best friend Lexi!’”

Cassie blinked in surprise. New best friend? They barely knew each other. It took a second to realize that Lexi was taking pity on her; the poor loner girl with no friends and no life. “You don’t have to-” Cassie got cut off before she could finish her sentence.

“I know I don’t have to do anything, but I want to. You seem like a cool kid Cassie and way too young to be this bogged down and stressed,” Lexi explained.

“I’m not stressed,” the young blonde sputtered in surprise.

Ignoring that the teenager said anything, Lexi continued on. “You need to let loose and chill out. Luckily for you, I am a master at both of those things. And I have the added bonus of having a lot of experience getting serious people to relax.” At Cassie’s questioning look, Lexi expanded. “My best friend’s a brooder. If I don’t kick his ass into a party every once and a while, he’d never crack a smile.” Cassie laughed at her words. “So it’s settled. I’ll see you tomorrow after school at the mall.”

“Alright, deal,” Cassie said with a smile, excited for the first time in a long while about doing something so normal. Suddenly, a frown crossed her face. “But how will you get there?” she asked.

“So much to learn.” Lexi sighed in faux disappointment. “My car has tinted windows so that’s how I get around. The mall has underground parking and the whole center is indoors. Voila! No sun and no crispy vampire.”

“Huh,” Cassie said in thought. She had never realized how difficult it was for a vampire to get around without a daylight ring. It took some creativity to manage it. “Okay,” Cassie agreed with a thoughtful nod. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The two blondes separated, heading in opposite directions down the street.

Cassie climbed three floors of stairs before finally arriving at her apartment. “Mom, I’m home,” she called out, laying down her messenger bag on the chair near the front door.

“In here, sweetie,” Amelia called out from the kitchen where she was preparing dinner. “How was Meg?”

Cassie had needed to come up with a story to tell her mom about why she was gone several afternoons after school. She couldn’t say she was in magic lessons, but at the same time, she didn’t really want to lie either. So she told a half-truth and said that she made a new friend Meg and that they hung out after school. And if her mom was under the impression that Meg was a teenage girl Cassie’s age and not an adult in her late twenties, well that wasn’t Cassie’s fault.

“Meg’s fine,” Cassie replied. “She introduced me to a new friend today. Is it cool if Lexi and I go shopping tomorrow after school?”

“Do you have money?” Amelia asked, stirring the food on the stovetop. Cassie nodded in reply. “Then I’m fine with it.” The older woman smiled at the thought of Cassie having a new friend. She knew that it was difficult on her daughter, the lifestyle they lived. They were constantly on the move and that made it difficult for Cassie to make friends. The girl had long since stopped trying and Amelia had been beginning to worry about her daughter. Then something happened two years ago and Cassie began to slowly but surely make more and more friends – friends she actually kept in contact with after they moved, which was a first for the small blonde.

The next day, Cassie made her way to the mall, her backpack hanging off one shoulder, the bag unzipped precariously and her books easily in danger of falling out. She had a black beanie on her head with a matching black t-shirt and her blue jeans were half-hazardly tucked into undone black combat boots.

Once she entered the mall, she paused in thought. She and Lexi hadn’t picked any place to meet up. She nibbled on her lip and wondered where to go. Should she wait by the entrance?

Looking backwards, Cassie decided not. The entrance consisted of glass doors, meaning exposure to sunlight. Instead, the blonde made her was to the escalator that led up from the underground parking lot. Cassie didn’t have to wait long before she heard a familiar voice calling her name. Turning, Cassie smiled as she watched Lexi ride up on the escalator. The older girl was smiling widely, her whole face lighting up like a little kid. She just seemed like one of those people who were always happy.

“Sorry I’m late,” she said as soon as she got off the escalator. She came to stand next to Cassie. “I know that we planned to meet here after you finished school, but I realized I had no idea what time your school let out, so I had to guess a little.”

“It’s okay. I only just got here. I wandered around a little because I realized we also didn’t mention a meeting place,” Cassie answered.

“Huh. Well, we clearly thought this out thoroughly yesterday, didn’t we?” Lexi replied with a chuckle. She thread a friendly arm through Cassie’s and began walking further into the mall. “So where to first?”

Over an hour later, both girls had arms full of shopping bags and had wandered over all four floors of the mall twice. “I think we’ve officially hit every place in here,” Cassie said with a smile as she collapsed on a bench in the center of the mall. The two girls had bonded well over clothes, as all girls tended to. Cassie had learned more about Lexi’s past and Cassie had shared a bit about her life as well. Cassie felt safe in calling the blonde vampire a friend.

Lexi gave an airy laugh as she too sat down with her bags. Something out of the corner caught her eye though and a large grin made its way across her face. “Not every shop,” she said with a mischievous wiggle of her eyebrows.

Cassie gave her a suspicious look, but allowed her eyes to follow where the blonde vampire was looking. “An occult store?” she questioned with a hint of incredulousness.

Lexi gave a laugh. “I know right? It’s probably some gitchy tourist crap, but it would be fun, right? Let’s go!” The vampire was up in a second and tugging the young teen along after her as they headed inside.

The store smelt like lavender, probably from the incense that was burning on the counter. Looking around, Cassie saw a couple of herbs that did have magical properties, but also some that had no use whatsoever. So, a typical magic store that knew nothing of any real magic.

“They have wolfsbane, but no vervain,” Lexi commented from behind her as she ran her fingertips over some bundles of herbs and dried flowers.

“Vervain?” an airy female voice asked from the back of the shop. Soon, a tall willowy redhead came towards them. If the loose, almost stereotypical wicca clothes were any indication, this was the owner of the shop. “I don’t believe I’ve heard of that herb before. What does it do?” she asked.

Cassie and Lexi shared amused, conspiratorial smiles. “Well,” Cassie answered innocently, “I hear they ward off vampires.”

Instantly the woman’s smile fell from her lips and a sliver of anger entered her eyes. “Oh, I see,” she replied flatly. “Well, I’m afraid we have none of that, but feel free to look around.” The redhead turned on her heel and returned to the back quickly.

The two blondes exchanged looks, their faces tight from trying not to laugh. “I don’t think she believes us,” Lexi laughed lowly.

Cassie shook her head at the utter ridiculousness of the situation.

She gave one last sweep of the store before heading out when something caught her eye. With a frown, she made her way to a bookshelf. “What are these?” she asked aloud, her fingers running across the spine. They obviously weren’t magic books because each one was blank.

“You’ve never seen a book of shadows before?” Lexi asked curiously, coming up behind the petite girl. Cassie shook her head in response. “They’re like a journal for witches. A witch will write down every spell they create or have ever cast in it. It’s their magical history. Families will carry their ancestor’s grimoires for centuries.”

“Grimoire?” Cassie asked again, annoyed with herself for not knowing. She was the witch in this equation, she should know about these things.

“The book a witch writes in is called a book of shadows. A grimoire is a book that’s already been written. They’re usually used for reference,” the vampire elaborated.

Cassie nodded in understanding before allowing her thoughts to return to the reason she was interested in them to begin with. “Do they all look like this?” she asked, running her fingers over the spines once more.

Lexi shrugged. “They can look like anything, I guess. Some are gitchy like these.” She pointed to books that had a triquatra or a pentagram or simply said the words ‘book of shadows’. “But real witches tend to keep it more low key.” This time she pointed to several leather bound journals. “Why?” she asked in curiosity.

Cassie hesitated to answer. She liked Lexi, but she still wasn’t willing to share all of her secrets quite yet. “I think I’ve seen something similar before, that’s all.”

Lexi shrugged carelessly, her attention drifting now that she got her answer. “They look like all the other millions of journals and diaries out there.” Spotting something, Lexi tugged on Cassie’s arm. “Ooh, come on. Let’s go get some frozen yogurt!”

Later, once Cassie returned home, she quietly snuck into her mother’s room while Amelia cooked dinner. She went into the back of her mother’s closet and quickly found what she was looking for; a light cardboard box that was packed in the back underneath a mountain of her mother’s clothes.

Unfolding the flaps, she shifted through the belongings; a stack of photos, a dried out corsage and there at the very bottom was a black leather journal. Cassie pulled it out and ran her fingertips over it. She had been doing that a lot today, but there was a reason. The minute Cassie saw those books, she knew that she had seen something similar before. And unlike what Lexi thought, Cassie knew that it was no ordinary journal.

Cassie jolted as the heard a pan drop in the kitchen and her mom yell out a swear word in surprise. The blonde teen hastily repacked the box, minus the book, and returned it to the back of the closet. She then made a dash for her bedroom and locked it behind her.

Crawling into bed, Cassie quickly became consumed with her father’s journal. Inside were spells. Dark spells, actually. Cassie might not know as much about magic as she wished, but even she could tell the difference. Her father’s family was into the dark stuff.

She nibbled on her lower lip as she got deeper and deeper into her father’s world. It wasn’t that she was against dark magic per se, she just wasn’t sure she had the stomach for it.

But the more she read, the more she realized that magic was just as much about intent as it was about the power itself. A lot of good healing magic was dark, after all. There existed a line in nature and to cross it, to change what was meant to be… that was dark magic. An example of this meant healing someone who was meant to die or killing someone who was meant to live.

It was late by the time Cassie finished her father’s family book of magic. She had begged off dinner claiming not to feel well when in fact she simply couldn’t pull herself away from the book.

Cassie flopped back on her bed, head lost in thought. She nibbled ferociously on her lower lip, a habit she was trying rather unsuccessfully to break herself of. Finally, after a long night, she fell into a fitful sleep.

The next morning, she carefully hid her father’s book behind her many other books on her shelf before going to school. She tried to act normal, but knew that she must have seemed like a strung out mess to everyone who saw her. She jumped at every sound, looked at the clock constantly and couldn’t stop twitching. She wanted school to end so that she could go talk to Meg about her book. Cassie didn’t want to share that the book was her father’s, but she wanted to get Meg’s thoughts on a hypothetical dark magic book.

Finally, unable to contain herself any longer, Cassie skipped her last class of the day and headed to Meg’s apartment early. Meg had given her a key when they began their sessions and Cassie used it to let herself in.

She was just about to announce herself when she heard Meg talking in the kitchen. Cassie couldn’t see who she was talking to from the entryway, but Cassie stopped to listen when she heard her own name mentioned.

“I don’t know why she’s so important to him,” Meg replied. After a moment of silence, Meg spoke again. “Klaus wants me to train her.” This second pause in the conversation made Cassie realize that Meg was on the phone. “No, it’s more than that. I’ve trained other witches for him and he’s never paid attention like he does to her. Klaus calls me for updates weekly. She’s important to him somehow.” Cassie frowned. Who was Meg talking to and why was she talking about Cassie and Klaus? “Well, I tried to tell you sooner, but you told me to call you back, Elijah!”

Cassie started. Elijah? Klaus’ brother? The brother who was trying to stop Klaus from fulfilling his goals? Cassie’s eyes widened. Meg was a traitor; she was betraying Klaus and by association Cassie.

The small blonde didn’t wait to hear more. She quietly slipped out of the apartment and had barely stepped onto the lift before calling Klaus.

“Hello, luv,” a familiar voice picked up. “I haven’t heard from you in a while. I was beginning to think you had forgotten me,” Klaus teased.

“Klaus, I just overheard Meg talking about me and you to Elijah,” Cassie rushed, getting straight to the point.

There was an uncomfortable silence as Klaus allowed her words to settle and hatred to pool in his gut. Elijah. His brother. His former right hand. The one he had trusted most, once upon a time. “Are you sure?” he asked, but he already knew the answer. If anyone could co-opt one of his witches, it was his older brother.

“I heard them,” Cassie replied, offended that he was questioning her. There was more silence from the hybrid, causing Cassie to shift uncomfortably. She could practically feel his rage coming off the phone as if he were right next to her, despite the fact that he was in actuality currently hunting down a rare magical artifact in Africa. “What do you want me to do?” she asked.

Klaus paused. His thoughts had been filled with plans of revenge; of hopping the next flight to Detroit and ripping out Meg’s heart with his teeth. It had never occurred to him to have Cassie do something. Then again, it was never too early to train a good witch and being a good witch for Klaus involved more than just magic. Cassie had already proven adaptive when she was able to move past his violent indiscretions with her. And in their frequent conversations, he had taken to being more honest about what he was doing… aka, who he was killing, and Cassie had yet to have a reaction. Perhaps it was time to bring her fully over to his side.

“Take her out,” he ordered softly. “However you’d like. I want her dead.”

Cassie hesitated. She recalled the viciousness in Lexi’s story of her turning. Killing? She hadn’t signed up for that. “I don’t know if I can.”

“You’re a strong girl, Cassie,” Klaus replied. Cassie blinked in surprise. One, Klaus never dished out compliments. Two, Klaus almost never used her real name, preferring annoying British pet names instead. “I’ll send someone to watch over you, but I would like for you to try first. If, in the end, you find you cannot do it after all, he will finish the task for you,” Klaus compromised. However, he was deeply interested in seeing whether or not she could accomplish this on her own.

Cassie hesitated, but ultimately agreed. A part of her knew that she only agreed because of what Klaus said. He called her strong. She didn’t want to let him down.

It was with great hesitation that she texted Meg saying that she wasn’t feeling well and would be skipping magic lessons that day. Meg’s caring response almost made the small blonde sick, but in the end, Cassie had to remember that Meg was betraying her. She probably hadn’t hesitated in stabbing Cassie in the back so Cassie shouldn’t hesitate to do the same.

She returned to her apartment, thankful that her mom was still at work. There, she dug out her father’s journal. She had gone to sleep last night arguing with herself about practicing the magic inside. Then, she had visited Meg with the intention of asking her opinion, but now, Cassie had made up her mind. She would use the magic in this journal and she would use it against Meg in retaliation for giving up Cassie to Elijah.

She waited until long after nightfall before slipping on a hoodie and some sneakers. She then opened the book and flipping it to a certain page. She read through it swiftly and began gathering up the ingredients for the spell, stuffing them into a satchel. She kept her herbs and other magical items in a hidden compartment in one of her many hollowed out books. She then quickly crept out of the apartment.

She had just made it to Meg’s apartment when a vampire blurred in front of her. “Crap!” she gasped in shock at seeing the man appear in front of her.

“I am Marcus,” the dark haired stranger introduced. “Klaus sent me.”

“Right.” Cassie nodded, almost smacking herself for forgetting Klaus’ promise of help. Well, she had no intention of needing that assistance, but she wouldn’t say no to some company. “Come on then,” she muttered, walking into the apartment complex. They rode up to Meg’s floor in silence and Cassie quietly let herself in. She turned to look at Marcus expectantly, but he just stood at the entrance.

“A vampire cannot enter without being invited in by the owner,” he explained.

Again, Cassie almost hit herself. She knew that. Planning a murder was making her forgetful. “How are you planning to… assist… me if I need it?” she whispered, not wanting to alert Meg who was in her bedroom asleep if the lack of lights was any indication.

“If you need my assistance, you must find a way to draw her out or get her to invite me in,” Marcus replied.

“Right,” Cassie muttered lowly. Of course, how obvious. Her nerves were affecting her more than she thought.

She left the door open so that Marcus could see her and quietly crept towards Meg’s bedroom. Cassie peaked in to confirm that the witch was there. Seeing that she was, Cassie retreated back to the living room to set up what she needed for the spell. Lastly, she brought out her father’s book.

Unable to keep quiet, Marcus whispered, “What are you doing?”

“A spell,” Cassie replied obviously as she sat down on the floor.

“For what?” he asked.

“I’ll tell you if it works,” she muttered in annoyance, trying to focus. She read through and double checked that she had everything in order before beginning. She lit the candles while simultaneously muttering lowly in Latin. She used a dagger a poked her index finger causing a small well of blood. She then used that to draw a symbol onto her other hand before dripping some blood on an herb and lighting it on fire using a candle. She chanted another verse of Latin when she felt a sudden rush. She couldn’t keep her gasp of surprise to herself as she felt the energy increase within her.

Cassie blinked, her mind in a daze. She felt herself fall to the side, her body limp. “Woah,” she murmured.

“Are you okay?” Marcus asked. “What did you do?”

“If the owner’s dead, you can come in, right?” Cassie asked instead, not moving from her prone position. “Try and enter.”

Marcus took a hesitant step inside and was surprised to find himself allowed access. “You used a spell to kill her?” he realized.

“Not exactly,” she replied, sitting up. She began to gather the ingredients, stuffing them back into her bag. “I used a spell to steal her power. Her death was just a side effect.” Cassie quickly exited the apartment, hasty to leave a crime scene.

“Can you do that to anyone?” Marcus asked. This time, he was the one with the constant questions.

“It takes a certain set of circumstances and – you know what? This is none of your business,” she retorted, suddenly realizing it may be a bad idea to give away her family’s magical secrets. “I killed her, she’s dead. Our jobs are done. Now, why don’t you go report the good news to Klaus and I can just go home.” Without waiting for a reply, Cassie left.

By the time she was back home in her bed, she was shaking and she vaguely felt tears go down her cheeks. Why was she so upset? Meg betrayed her? And yet, Meg had been her friend. Cassie had never hurt anyone before, let alone killed someone. Suddenly, she found herself feeling very alone and scared. For a second, she thought about calling Klaus, but knew that he would never understand. Killing came second nature to him. He had no idea what it felt like for Cassie; her fear, her remorse.

Seemingly of their own volition, Cassie’s fingers began dialing. She was relieved when a friendly voice picked up on the other end.

“Lexi? You know how you were telling me stories about your turning? Do you think you could…” Cassie hesitated. “Can you tell me about your first kill?” she finally asked.


	3. Chapter 3

Cassie gave a small sigh as she relaxed under a tree, taking comfort in the sun, the shade and the small breeze – she loved this season. She held a book in her hand, but as her eyes unwillingly fluttered closed, her hand and thus the book both dropped to the blanket covered ground next to her. It was just one of those lazy fall days and Cassie just wanted to bask in it (and maybe enjoy a little nap).

Suddenly, her ears picked up a very familiar voice from nearby. “I promise you’ll love her,” Lexi exclaimed to someone. “Cassie’s ten kinds of awesome. In fact, she might even be too awesome for you to handle,” the vampire teased her companion.

Cassie’s eyes opened. Well, it didn’t look like that nap would be happening, but she had missed her friend and was happy to see her anyway. Cassie stood up, cracking her back as she did so, and looked around. It suddenly occurred to her that it was sunny out and that Lexi didn’t have a daylight ring. Spotting the familiar older blonde, Cassie raised her hand up and waved, her eyebrow cocked in laughter. “Lexi!” she called, gaining the woman’s attention. Lexi was walking under the shade of a large umbrella, like something out of an old movie. Next to the blonde was a brunet male that Cassie had never met, but she had a pretty good guess as to who it was. It had been almost a year since she had met Lexi and the woman had rather forcefully befriended the young teen. In that year, Lexi had mentioned her best friend multiple times; a mysterious vampire named Stefan Salvatore. If Cassie had to bet, she would guess that she was finally meeting the ‘other best friend’.

“Cassie!” Lexi practically squealed, pulling the girl into a fierce hug. Lexi was the kind of person with a constant wanderlust. She had followed Cassie from Detroit to Jersey City when Cassie’s mother had moved them, but after five months, Lexi had gotten bored and left for more distant and adventurous travels. The two girls kept in constant contact however and Lexi had promised that when she returned to America for her best friend’s birthday, that she would stop in and see the teen. And it looked like Lexi was fulfilling that promise.

“Hey, Lexi-Lex.” Cassie smiled and returned the hug just as fiercely. The one thing the two girls had bonded over was their lack of girlfriends. For whatever reason, the two girls had always gotten along better with boys and thus lacked a lot of that so called ‘feminine touch’. Lexi, as a three hundred year old noblewoman, however knew a lot about such feminine things and just didn’t like it, but had taught much to Cassie regardless of the vampire’s distaste for what she called the ‘girly arts’. Cassie, similarly, didn’t particularly like girly things either, but it was nice to know just in case she needed it. And it was much easier talking to Lexi about feminine things like puberty and makeup and boys than it was talking to her mother. “So I’m going to take a wild stab in the dark and say this is your mysterious best friend Stefan I have heard so much about yet never met,” Cassie said with a wide smile at the man.

That was another new thing about Cassie. She smiled a lot more now. At least, that’s what her mother told her and Cassie could admit that it was probably true. But she could hardly help it. She just felt… lighter. She didn’t want to say it, but her first kill (well, her only kill) had in a way freed her. Growing up, she had moved from one place to another, with no ties and no attachments. Then she had met Klaus and while she didn’t trust him for a long time, his back up when it came to Meg was proof that not only did he trust her, but that he would help her, would take care of her when she needed him to. And that night she had sworn to do the same for him. Knowing that she had someone to fall back on had freed her and since then, she had made more of an effort to reach out to the hybrid. While he had been certainly surprised, he had also been slowly thawing to the young witch.

“Right you are,” Lexi replied, drawing Cassie out of her thoughts. “Stefan, meet Cassie. Cassie, this is Stefan.” The two shook hands and gave polite smiles. Lexi had talked a lot about each of them and yet had managed not to say a single thing. While they both were glad for Lexi’s respect for their privacy, it made their meeting a bit awkward. Sensing this, Lexi turned to speak to Cassie while simultaneously dragging the two down to sit on Cassie’s blanket. “I promised you I’d stop by and here we are. We were just up on a crazy ski adventure in the Canadian wilderness for Stefan’s big 1-6-0. Well, to be fair, I hadn’t intended for it to be a crazy ski adventure. It was meant to be a moderate to fair ski adventure,” Lexi joked.

The two gave light chuckles. “Oh yeah? Tell me about it,” Cassie invited, looking at Stefan. This was Lexi’s best friend and she wanted to get to know him and hopefully get along with him.

Sensing this, Stefan nodded and began a long tale involving Canadian Mounties, two wild bears and what Lexi swore was Big Foot, but Stefan reassured was just a wilderness junkie who hadn’t seen the light of day in a couple of months… or years. Surprisingly, there was still plenty of time for them to get a little bit of skiing done as well at the end of this story.

“You’re making this up!” Cassie laughed hysterically.

Stefan wore a wide grin and just shook his head. “I swear! You can even ask the Mounties!”

Lexi looked on self-satisfied as she watched her two best friends bond. She knew bribing those two Mounties would be worth it. And it made for a great story. Now, she wouldn’t have to worry that two of her closest friends wouldn’t get along because looking at the two of them now, she couldn’t imagine them as anything but best friends.

“Okay, enough story telling!” she interrupted the minute Stefan began telling Cassie a new tale, this time a funny story that ended rather embarrassingly for Lexi.

“Of course you’d say that,” Stefan replied with a knowing smirk. “This tale ends badly for Lexi,” he faux whispered to Cassie in a conspiring manner.

“Haha,” Lexi laughed sarcastically. “Shut up. Let’s do something fun instead of talking about it,” she compromised.

Cassie and Stefan shared a knowing glance. Lexi always wanted to do something fun and dragged anyone she could along for the ride, regardless of whether they wanted to go or not. Lexi saw this glance but pretended not to in favor of promoting the other two’s friendship. “What did you have in mind?” Cassie asked.

“Atlantic City!” Lexi crowed.

“This won’t end well,” Stefan muttered.

Cassie nodded. “Yeah and I hate to break it to you, but I’m fourteen.” She gestured down indicating her still young body. She had a pretty face and a supremely lean frame. If she were taller, she could be called gangly, but unfortunately she was still extremely petite for her age and given her mother’s genetics, that was something unlikely to change as she got older.

“We can compel you in,” Lexi said flippantly, waving her hand as though that were no problem.

“You’re gonna end up compelling a lot of people,” Cassie warned.

Pouncing on the flaw, Stefan nodded in agreement. “Yeah, it sounds like too much of a hassle. Let’s just do something else.” He had enough adventure for one birthday and would prefer something a little more low key… or no key at all, to be honest.

Lexi pouted but gave in. “What do you suggest?”

The other two looked at each other with a shrug. “Shopping?” Cassie suggested with a shrug.

Stefan winced. He had been shopping with Lexi before. It took hours and in the end, he was more of a pack mule than company. “A movie?” he counter-offered.

“Ooh,” Lexi cooed. “A cheesy supernatural movie with bad vampires or witches and even worse acting!” she suggested exuberantly. Her two best friends stared at her in surprised incomprehension, but she ignored that in favor of grinning smugly. She had decided. This is what they’re doing today and whatever noise they make about it won’t matter because in an hour she’ll have both their asses glued to the couch. Or else.

“I could be down for that,” Cassie agreed, warming to the idea. When she first found out that she was a witch, she had watched and read every supernatural witch movie or book she could get her hands on; everything from Wiccan nature books to dark magic movies. When she began her magic lessons soon after, it was to her disappointment that they were all crap. She hadn’t bothered with a supernatural movie since. “Let’s go raid a video store.” Cassie grabbed her book and stood up while Lexi soon followed. Realizing they were missing someone, they both gazed downward.

Stefan looked up between his two blonde companions and sighed. “I’m not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?” he asked rhetorically as he slowly got up too. His sluggish movements illustrated how much he really wasn’t overjoyed about this. Nevertheless, he picked up the blanket they had been sitting on and followed the two out of the park as they made their way to a rental place Cassie knew of a couple blocks away.

“We going back to my place to watch these?” Cassie asked holding up the bag of movies they’d picked out. Lexi and Cassie, through some miracle, had even managed to coax Stefan into it and he wound up choosing a couple titles to their pile.

“Your mom not home?” Lexi asked.

Cassie shook her head. “Mom’s working as a store manager at a department store. She works nights and weekends.” Cassie and her mom moved around a lot, which made getting a job hard for Amelia. It didn’t help that she only had a high school education. Still, Amelia got work where she could and she always managed to support Cassie, even if things were occasionally tight. Cassie was used to her mother’s weird schedule but she knew her mom didn’t like it because the only time Amelia was home was during Monday through Friday during the day – when Cassie was at school. Cassie couldn’t remember the last time she saw her mother for longer than a couple of minutes when one of them was coming home and the other was rushing out.

“And you don’t mind inviting us in?” Stefan asked, a bit worried at the prospect of a young teenage girl inviting two vampires into her home.

“Don’t worry, Stef,” Lexi answered instead. “Cassie can take care of herself.” It had been easy for Lexi to figure out what had happened to Meg. Cassie had called asking about Lexi’s first kill the same night Meg was found dead in her apartment? A toddler could have put that together.

At first, Lexi had been worried about it. Cassie was still just a kid and she had killed one of Lexi’s closest witch friends. But at the same time, Lexi had a good feeling about Cassie and her feelings were almost never wrong. Lexi had chosen to ask Cassie straight up what had happened. The details were sketchy, but from what Lexi could gather, Meg had been telling Cassie’s secrets to someone with the intent to hurt or use Cassie. Lexi hadn’t believed it at first, Meg was such a good person, but in the end, she couldn’t detect a hint of lie in Cassie’s words. Cassie had left some details – okay, a lot of details – out, but there was no deception and in the end, Lexi believed her.

Stefan looked skeptical. Cassie was a tiny little blonde thing with no visible muscles. Despite the fact that intellectually he knew she was a witch, it was still hard to picture her being able to defend herself. Still, he took Lexi’s word for it since the older vampire knew Cassie better than he did.

The trio made their way to Cassie’s apartment. Stefan looked at the petite blonde in amazement when she casually invited the two vampires inside with no hesitation what so ever.

“Do you want to watch these out in the living room or in my room?” Cassie asked, kicking off her shoes and gesturing for her friends to make themselves at home and do the same.

“Where ever you want,” Stefan replied.

Cassie nodded and led her friends to the back and into her bedroom. Between meeting Klaus, befriending vampires and killing Meg, Cassie had grown darker as a person and her room décor illustrated that. One wall was filled to the brim with books and hidden in between Harry Potter books and Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon series were magical texts and books on spell craft that were virtually invisible unless one was looking specifically for them. In the far corner, Cassie had a small desk with a laptop and some textbooks on it. Hanging next to the desk high on the wall was a decent sized flat screen television.

Lexi immediately made herself comfortable on Cassie’s bed, stretching out to rest her head on a pillow while taking care to face the television. Stefan sat down at the edge of the bed as though reluctant to make himself comfortable. Lexi rolled her eyes and nudged him with her foot until he had no choice but to lay back, leaning on his elbows. Lexi then took the opportunity to rest her feet on his stomach, which Stefan realized was the plan all along.

Cassie, meanwhile, had picked out a movie at random from her bag and put it into her tv before returning to her bed. With Lexi spread out the long way and Stefan laid back at the foot, the only space available was in the middle, so Cassie sat cross-legged, leaning back slightly against Lexi’s stomach.

The trio then spent the rest of the day laughing at cheesy vampires, horrible Latin pronunciation and truly awful accents. And surprisingly, the two women learned not to get Stefan started on the supernatural fight scenes because apparently those were pet peeves of him. About halfway through the third movie, Stefan began to feel restless and stood up to peruse Cassie’s book collection.

Resting on top of the case was a brown leather journal, similar to the journal he was dairying in now. He picked it up and began flipping through it, quickly figuring out that it was a magical journal of some sort. His eyes went wide when he read some of the spells it contained. “What is this?” Stefan asked, flipping more vigorously through the book, taking in all the dangerous magic it contained. He worried for a moment if he hadn’t misjudged his new friend.

Cassie drew her eyes away from the movie to look at what Stefan was talking about. Her eyes widened at what he was holding. Of all the books he could pick to read, he had to choose that? “My father’s magical journal,” she replied, only a sliver of hesitation present in her voice.

“This is some dark stuff,” he commented attempting to sound mild.

Lexi watched on with perceptive eyes. She wasn’t big on harming innocents which was the basis of a lot of black magic, but she trusted Cassie to use her powers responsibility.

“What can I say?” Cassie attempted a casual shrug. “My family’s pretty dark.” The only indication she gave of feeling self-conscious was the way she attempted to tuck a strand of hair behind her head despite the fact that they were already tucked back.

“Is your mom a witch?” Stefan asked, trying to see what kind of guidelines Cassie had for practicing her magic.

“No, just my dad,” she replied. “My mom’s human. She has no idea about me or that my dad was magical.”

Stefan caught her use of past tense. Her father was presumably dead and left Cassie with no one to show her the ropes. “You’re using his book to learn?”

“I’ve got witch friends who are teaching me, but I am reading the family journal. I’m not sure that I’d ever practice some of it, but it’s still my family’s knowledge.” Cassie was careful to stay honest while still being misleading. She had said that she probably wouldn’t practice some of it. That doesn’t include the ritual she performed to kill Meg. Well, technically, Meg’s death was merely a side-effect of stealing her power.

If Stefan caught on to her little deception, he didn’t say so. Instead he simply nodded and returned the book to its place and sat back on the bed. He could understand a girl needing a connection to a father she no longer had.

Sensing that this would be the optimal time for Stefan and Cassie to truly bond, Lexi stood up. “I need to bounce,” she said drawing the gaze of the other two. “Lee’s waiting up for me to skype with him.” When Stefan made a move to stand, she shook her head. “No, you stay, Stef. Finish the movie, tell me how it ends.” She winked and walked out before he could protest.

After a silent and rather tense second, Cassie gave an amused chuckle. “Subtle.”

“Agreed,” Stefan muttered in reply.

“They all die in the end,” Cassie offered up. “If you wanna get out of here.”

Stefan smiled, but shook his head. “That’s okay. You’ve seen this movie before?”

“Well, no. But it’s a zombie movie. It’s not hard.” Cassie and Stefan both shared a laugh over her response, but things quickly returned to their former tenseness. Trying to break the ice, Cassie tried to remember what she and Lexi talked about when they first met. “So, why don’t you tell me about yourself? Your turning.” Stefan winced at her question. “Or not,” Cassie offered as an out.

“No.” Stefan shook his head. “It’s just… Complicated.”

Cassie cocked a brow, remembering Lexi’s story. “It seems like all turnings are like that.”

“Good point,” he replied with a weak chuckle. “I guess it starts with Katherine… No, actually, I suppose it really starts with my older brother, Damon.” Cassie cocked a brow at the mention of a brother. “Growing up, I loved my brother and I know that he loved me too. Unfortunately, we were constantly at odds; the downside to having completely different personalities. Our father… was not a particularly kind man and would often take out his anger on Damon. Damon didn’t want to, but I know that he resented me for being father’s favored child. One day, a woman came to live with us. Her name was Katherine.”

Cassie coughed lightly. There was that name again; Katherine. She had heard Klaus speak of a Katerina who had changed her name to Katherine. But what were the odds? With a sense of déjà-vu, Cassie recalled the last time she thought that, Lexi confirmed that it was Klaus who helped to kill her family. With a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, Cassie continued to listen.

“Katherine showed an interest in me, but what I did not know was that she was a vampire and that at the same time, she began to secretly seduce Damon as well. I realized that Damon was competing for her affection as well, though I did not know that they were seeing each other behind my back, and a chasm grew in our relationship. She used her compulsion on me to make me love her and to overlook her unnaturalness. But soon people began to realize that our town was home to a monster and soon a hunt began. They locked up Katherine and Damon and I worked together to free her. We failed and our father had us killed for even attempting to help a vampire. Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you look at things, we both had Katherine’s blood in our system. We transitioned. How much do you know about the transition process?” Stefan asked.

Cassie shook her head. “Not much. Just the basics. You’re dead and you need to decide whether or not to turn. You’ll begin craving human blood and if you decide to turn, you must drink it. If you don’t, you’ll die.”

Stefan nodded in agreement with her assessment. “If you’ve been compelled, you begin to remember during the transition. In addition to that, your more recent memories, your death, starts out fuzzy and quickly becomes clear as well. When I remembered what my father did, I left to confront him. We had a fight and in my anger, the bloodlust increased. I killed him,” he confessed. “And I became a vampire. You know about the switch?” Cassie just nodded. The moment was so heavy that she feared speaking lest Stefan stop telling his tale. “When I realized what I’d done, I flipped it. No emotions, no remorse. But I knew that I couldn’t do this alone. I returned to Damon. He turned but he’s hated me ever since.” He paused a moment to let his words sink in. “And that’s the story of my turning.

The petite blonde was at a loss for words at his tale. Truly, ever vampire ever created must have a horribly tragic tale. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, reaching out to rest her hand on his arm.

He gave her a grateful smile before quickly changing the subject. “What about you? What’s your story?”

Cassie shrugged. “You know most of it. My dad died when I was still a baby so it’s just me and my mom. We travel a lot, moving around the country. I found out I was a witch a couple years ago and have been training ever since. Nothing overly dramatic.”

“How did you find out you were a witch?” Stefan asked, eager to keep the subject on Cassie instead of his past.

“Ah.” She sat back. She had been hoping to avoid that conversation. “Met a vampire, pissed him off. He attacked me and when he did, I pushed him away with magic.”

Stefan looked at the young teen in surprise. “You were attacked by a vampire and yet you can still befriend them?”

Cassie cocked her head. “It’s complicated. Yes, he attacked me, but he also saved me in a way. If it hadn’t been for him, I would never have known my heritage. I wouldn’t have that piece of my father that I do now. He helped me, explained to me what was happening and helped me find witches to teach me what my dad couldn’t. We still talk even now. He’s actually kind of one of my best friends,” she said in shocked realization. Sure, intellectually she realized she talked to Klaus often, especially in the last year having made an effort to reach out to him more, but she hadn’t realized how close she had gotten to him until just now. What did it say about her that her best friend was a sociopathic murderer and she didn’t care?

“Sounds like you really care and respect him,” Stefan replied. In his experience, most vampires weren’t that nice, although her friend didn’t sound very nice at first either. He vaguely wondered if he’d ever met this person. “What’s his name?”

“Nik,” Cassie replied knowing that was what she called him when she told Lexi her story last year too. “And yeah, I guess I do. Not sure how it happened, but I do.” Wanting to get off the subject of Klaus but knowing Stefan didn’t really want to talk about himself again, Cassie asked about something else instead. “So whatever happened with your brother? Where’s he?”

Stefan shrugged, a little bit uncomfortable. “Not sure. Last I checked he was in Singapore, but that was a couple of years ago.”

Cassie winced sympathetically. “Still don’t get along, huh?”

“Honestly? I…” Stefan sighed. “After we turned, he tried… for me, I guess. But like I said, I flipped the switch. I was… a monster. I killed people, I tortured them. I couldn’t control myself.”

“You were a ripper,” Cassie said in realization.

Stefan cocked his head, surprised by the depth of her vampire knowledge. Then again, between Lexi and Nik, he supposed he shouldn’t be shocked. “You’ve heard that term.” He shook his head deprecatingly. “Yes, I was a ripper. It was like an addiction. I couldn’t stop myself and I didn’t want to. I did… horrible things.”

Cassie reached out, gently rubbing his arm in comfort. What was it with her that she constantly felt a connection to murderers? At least Stefan felt remorse for what he’d done, she knew Klaus certainly didn’t. “What happened?” she asked.

The vampire gave a bark of a laugh. “I met Lexi and she kicked my ass,” he replied honestly. “Been best friends ever since. And she continues to take great enjoyment in kicking my ass every time I fall off the wagon.” The blonde witch tried to hold back a giggle and failed miserably. She could absolutely picture Lexi doing that. “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” he said sarcastically, but his smile indicated that he wasn’t really all that upset. He knew it was funny too. It was even funnier to watch he was sure.

Now that they both had their secrets off their chest, they both felt lighter and more relaxed around each other. They were already beginning to become friends.

“Wanna know what I just realized?” Cassie asked in a lightly conspiratorial tone. He turned to look at her in interest. After such a dark conversation, what could make her still smile like that? “We totally missed the ending of the movie.”

Stefan blinked and looked at the tv, surprised to see that the DVD was over. “Aw, man. Lexi’s gonna be pissed,” he said with a laugh, startled to find himself genuinely amused.

That was another thing. He couldn’t remember the last time he laughed this much. Usually Lexi was the only one who could coax him out of his shell like this.

Stefan stood up, stretching slightly. “Alright, I’d better get going then. I gotta think up an ending to tell Lexi,” he joked.

Cassie smiled and showed him out. She waved him off and closed the door. Her feet wandered themselves into the kitchen but her mind was completely spaced out. Did it mean something that her closest friends were all vampires? Despite only meeting Stefan a little while ago, she could feel that he was going to be a very close friend.

Maybe it was because of the secrets. Maybe Cassie became close to vampires because they already knew the supernatural and she didn’t have to lie to them. God knows she wasn’t faring well with the kids at her school… well, schools, if she was being honest. Cassie had never really fit in at any of her schools, but it had gotten worse after she discovered the truth about her heritage.

That would explain why she felt so connected to Stefan, Lexi and Klaus. But at the same time it didn’t. She had met plenty of witches too. They obviously knew about the supernatural, but she never connected to any of them the way she did the others.

She wasn’t an idiot. She knew that Klaus was trying to keep it from her, but she knew how most witches felt about him, about vampires in general. Witches hated vampires; considered them abominations against nature. In fact, Klaus’ nickname among the witches was actually Abomination. Something he apparently found funny seeing as how he snickered every time he heard someone say that.

So how could Cassie, a witch, feel so comfortable around vampires, a witch’s enemy? It just didn’t make sense.

Cassie nibbled on her lower lip. She was beginning to worry that there was something fundamentally wrong with her.

Klaus was a terrible person. A monster, really. He murdered and tortured to suit his moods. Stefan had admitted to being a ripper; a vampire that literally ripped his victims to shreds. And Lexi… well, out of the three, she was the best, but even she confessed to the immense hatred she felt for Klaus and Kol for destroying her family.

And Cassie… Cassie had killed.

Did that make her just as bad as them?

Did that make her a monster too?

Was that why she got along so well with them? Because she was just like them?

Cassie shuddered, tears forming in her eyes. God, she hoped not. Still, Cassie quickly left the kitchen to take refuge in her room. It was dark still from when they had turned off the lights for the movie, which suited her mood perfectly.

Crawling into bed, she let her tears fall. Maybe she needed to get away from magic for a while. Maybe it was best that she distance herself. Who knew what kind of person she’d turn into at this rate.

A scraping sound caught her attention. Her head automatically turned toward her bookshelf as her mind tried to catch up with her instincts. She had heard something. Was there someone there?

She turned her head to switch on the lamp by her bed, but by the time she turned back around toward the sound, something was flying straight at her face. Instinctively, she caught it, flinching back. It took her a second to realize that it was her father’s book of magic.

Cassie looked around, but didn’t see anyone or anything. Again, she looked down at the book in her hands. “Dad,” she whispered in wonder, lovingly stroking the front of the leather bound journal. Was it possible? Was it really possible? Had her father heard her doubts from beyond the grave and was encouraging her to continue with her magical studies? Was he encouraging her to follow in his footsteps?

Vampires and witches were real, it would make sense that there was more out there than Cassie realized. Perhaps her father was looking down on her, encouraging her to continue on his family heritage.

With a joyous smile, Cassie opened the book and began re-reading. The first time she had read the journal, she had been terrified of its darkness, but now… Now, it was her legacy. She would master her father’s dark magics just as much as she mastered the spells Klaus’ witches taught her.

Over the next few weeks, Cassie precariously balanced school, Lexi and Stefan, magic lessons and her father’s journal. It led to quite a balancing act and she suspected that Lexi and Stefan both knew that she was delving deeper into her father’s work. Still, they said nothing, merely keeping a watchful eye on her to make sure that she could handle herself, something she was actually thankful for. At least with magic lessons, she had someone to help her if things went bad. She had no such person looking after her when it came to her father’s journal.

Unfortunately, she was so busy that a certain day came too soon for Cassie’s liking.

“I’m heading out,” Lexi said throwing her packed duffel bag over her shoulder. She had come to Cassie’s apartment to say goodbye. She had known that Stefan and Cassie were hanging out today and wanted to catch them both at the same time. “You coming?” she asked Stefan, certain of his response before he even gave it.

Stefan hesitated a moment. “Nah, I think I’ll stay a while.”

Lexi smirked knowingly, looking down at the two best friends. “Catch ya later then,” she said reaching out to hug both Cassie and Stefan. Then she left with nothing but a backwards wave.

She loved it when a plan came together.


	4. Chapter 4

Cassie threw her head back laughing at the joke Stefan made. For such a serious, brooding guy, he knew some pretty good stories. Although the fact that they almost always contained Lexi was probably indicative of something.

They were lazily spending the weekend hanging out talking in his new apartment. Well, new was a bit strong. He had gotten it a few weeks after Lexi left and that was over six months ago. Stefan had chosen to stay and get to know Cassie after Lexi returned home to her boyfriend and he was still around all these months later.

“So then Lexi pretends to be completely terrified and points behind him screaming ‘shark’. Of course this guy flips out and starts screaming this high pitched scream. But he turns around-”

“And realizes they’re on dry land and the nearest ocean isn’t for another thousand miles,” a deep voice interrupted. Cassie and Stefan both whirled around in surprise at the interruption. “And I think you’re being too kind when you call that guy’s scream high pitched. Let’s be honest, he screamed like a little girl,” the newcomer said with a smirk from where he was leaning against the door frame.

Cassie looked behind him and realized that Stefan’s front door had been opened near silently. That meant that this person had somehow gotten a key since breaking in would have alerted the two occupants.

There was a surprised, tense moment of silence as Stefan and the stranger looked at each other heatedly. “Who are you?” Cassie asked when she finally realized that neither man was going to say anything.

“You haven’t mentioned me to your new friend? I’m hurt.” The stranger pulled a wounded expression before quickly smirking once more. “I’m Damon Salvatore, Stefan’s older brother,” he introduced to Cassie.

“Eternity of misery older brother?” Cassie softly muttered questioningly at Stefan for a moment before drawing her eyes back to Damon. They didn’t look like brothers. Stefan was shorter and bulkier with brown hair and brown eyes. Damon, on the other hand, was taller and leaner with black hair and bright blue eyes.

Of course, with vampire hearing, Cassie’s attempt at a near whisper did nothing. “You have mentioned me!” Damon grinned broadly, clearly amused. He walked further into the room causing Stefan to warily stand up and face his brother. It was obvious he was readying for a fight, but Damon just ignored him. “And who is this?” he asked, staring straight into Cassie’s eyes.

“No one.” “Cassie,” the two spoke at the same time. Cassie blinked and looked at Stefan in surprise. Stefan, meanwhile, winced and continued to stare at his brother.

“Well, that’s not confusing at all,” Damon said jokingly at the blonde girl before re-focusing his attentions on his brother. “So, what have you been up to, Stef?”

“Not much,” Stefan said, stuffing his hands into his pocket with a shrug. “Kind of a boring town.”

Damon gave a chuckle. “It’s Jersey City,” he replied. “You’re in spitting distance of both Atlantic City and New York. I doubt its boring… Then again, you are you,” he said in contemplation. “You were always a bit of a downer. You didn’t even like Christmas. What kid didn’t like Christmas?”

Stefan rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t that I didn’t like Christmas. It was that I didn’t like being woken at five in the morning on Christmas morning just to watch you tear through your presents first. And then you’d start in on mine.” The last part was said with a glower. Clearly, one hundred and fifty years later, Stefan was still bitter over that.

Damon shrugged. “You were always doing it wrong.” He winked mischievously at Cassie causing her to giggle a little.

Seeing this caused Stefan to glare even harder. “You can’t unwrap presents wrong. Just because I didn’t tear through them like some sort of Tasmanian devil-”

“Tasmanian devil?” Damon interrupted with a laugh. “Where do you get these, brother? Just because I didn’t carefully unfold each wrapper from the gift and then meticulously refold it for re-use doesn’t mean-”

“Ripping them was wasteful!” Stefan interjected in what was clearly a very old argument. Cassie laughed at the two bickering brothers, finally drawing their attention away. “Great, now I’m craving fruit,” Stefan muttered with the tiniest of pouts. Not that Cassie would dare tell him so. She had never seen Stefan act this… immature before. Then again, she had never seen him being teased by his older brother before. Usually when either she or Lexi teased Stefan, he took it with good fun, but Damon seemed to genuinely rile Stefan up. The effects of family, Cassie figured.

“Fruit?” Cassie asked in curiosity.

“Stocking stuffers during that time, especially during the War,” Damon replied. It was perfectly clear to him by now that Cassie knew exactly what his brother was and by association what Damon was. “Which reminds me, who exactly are you, Cassie? Why did my baby brother see fit to blab our little – shall we call it a family secret? – to you? And more importantly,” Damon sauntered up to the blonde, looking down at her with hooded eyes, “why doesn’t he want me to know who you are?” he asked, stroking a finger down her cheek. “Not that I’m not grateful for the lack of compulsion or the need to censor myself.”

Cassie blushed violently at his touch, earning her a chuckle from the dark haired man. Stefan quickly invaded the two’s person space and yanked Damon’s hand away, drawing both of they eyes.

“Since when have you ever cared about censuring your words or compelling a victim?” Stefan ground out in annoyance. He didn’t want his brother anywhere near his best friend. Cassie, despite being a powerful witch and wilder than any kid should be, was still, in fact a kid. She was fourteen, barely fifteen, and had little to no experience with boys let alone dangerous men like Damon. No, Stefan had to get Damon as far away from Cassie as possible.

“It’s not that I have any compunction about compelling people to forget, but it’s just such a hassle,” Damon explained. “It’s so much easier to just not have to do it at all.” For the first time in a while, Damon took his eyes off of Cassie to look at his little brother. “And don’t think I haven’t noticed you avoiding the subject. Again. Who is Cassie?”

“Cassie is right here,” Cassie said, finally getting a word in edge wise. “And Cassie is a witch, thank you very much.”

Stefan nearly groaned aloud. He did not want Damon knowing that. That would just give Damon more reasons to be curious about someone that he should really not be curious about. Why couldn’t Cassie just follow Stefan’s lead and stay quiet?

Damon’s gaze was once more drawn to the petite blonde. “A witch, huh? Feisty little thing, aren’t you?” Cassie merely cocked an un-amused brow in response. She hated being called ‘little’ for more than one reason. Having been through so much, she didn’t feel young, so she didn’t like that connotation and she definitely hated any reminded of her height deficiency.

“Okay, I think its time for Cassie to go,” Stefan said, stepping into the middle of the staring contest between the other two.

Cassie turned to look at him silently. She didn’t like being bossed around, but she could see that Stefan was desperate for her to leave and she could understand not wanting to air the family business in front of her. She had thought that they were close enough that they could tell each other anything, but Damon was clearly a sore spot and she wouldn’t begrudge Stefan some privacy to deal with his brother by himself.

“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow?” she asked with a questioning look. Stefan nodded in return. Accepting that, she made for the door, only to start when Damon blurred in front of her, blocking the exit.

“Now, why are you leaving when things are only just getting interesting?” Damon asked, his head tilted in curiosity and a smirk still painted on his lips. He was intrigued and he didn’t often let his questions go by unanswered.

Cassie opened her mouth to reply before hesitating. With a wayward look back at Stefan, she closed her mouth. Stefan didn’t want her in the middle of things, so she wasn’t going to say a word.

Catching on, Damon scowled, glaring at his brother. “Quite a hold you have over her. Didn’t know you were into blondes. What is she, like your pet witch?”

Cassie scowled at the notion that she was anyone’s pet, but ground her teeth and bore the insults. Stefan was her friend, she would do what he wanted.

“Get out of the way, Damon,” Stefan ground out, angered by the insult to Cassie as well. When Damon didn’t move, Stefan reached out and yanked his brother out of the way. Cassie stared wide eyed as the two vampires began to trade blows.

“Stefan,” she cried out when Damon got a really good hit in. She hesitated when her cry drew both vampires’ attention back to her. She took a step forward to help, but Stefan shook his head.

“Get out of here!” he called out to her.

Again, Cassie hesitated. She saw a blur of motion as Damon ran over toward her, but out of nowhere, Stefan tackled him into the dining room table. Cassie didn’t want to leave, but knew that she was causing more problems by staying. She quickly turned on her heel and escaped Stefan’s apartment, heading home as fast as she could.

“Cassie? Is everything okay?” Amelia asked when she saw her daughter burst through the apartment like she was on fire.

Cassie stood panting, leaning against the front door. “Fine. What are you doing home?” she asked.

Amelia looked at her only child oddly. “It’s my night off,” she reminded gently. “Are you feeling alright, sweetheart?” She stood to go feel Cassie’s forehead, but the blonde just waved her off.

“I’m peachy, promise.” Cassie attempted a smile, but knew that it must have looked awkward on her face. “You know what, I think I’m just tired. I’ll just go lie down and go to sleep early.” Without waiting for a response, Cassie ran to her bedroom and locked the door behind her. Collapsing onto her bed, the small blonde finally allowed her heart to slow down.

Today had been a weird day. Things had kicked off alright. She had met Stefan after school and they wandered around talking for a while. She even talked him into buying her an ice cream cone in the park. Then they’d gone to his apartment where he’d listened to a message from Lexi left on his answering machine which had sparked the telling of another one of his birthday adventures with the girl.

And then out of nowhere, Damon appeared.

Damon, the mysterious Salvatore.

He was… gorgeous wasn’t a strong enough word. Stefan was handsome, of course, but Damon was like a whole other category. Cassie had never seen anyone that… pretty before. Not even on tv.

And he had flirted with her.

Cassie had never really been flirted with before. Sure, she’d had guys notice her before. She kissed a few kids at her school, but there was nothing that lasted longer than a few weeks. Boys were just… boys. They were too young, too immature. She led a complicated life and it led to her growing up a lot quicker than normal kids did. Unfortunately, that left her dating prospects a little sparse. Or a lot sparse, whatever.

The point was, she had never been hit on before. Not beyond the lame pick up lines of her fellow classmates, at least. And while admittedly, she had entertained the thought of dating an older guy, she had thought high school senior, not century plus old vampire.

Not that she was thinking about dating Damon. Because she wasn’t.

Stefan was clearly unhappy and Damon didn’t exactly make the greatest first impression.

Who cared if he had thick black hair and crystal blue eyes and a mouthwatering body and- whatever. The point was, it was never going to happen.

Besides, what would a man like Damon want with a girl like Cassie? She was thin and pretty, she knew, but she was also annoyingly small and had a pretty serious mouth on her with the ability to piss off anyone she ever met.

There was no way in hell she’d ever end up in a relationship with Damon Salvatore. It was better to lay that particular fantasy to rest before-

Cassie nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the sound of a rhythmic tapping noise. It didn’t sound like the hollow knock of a door…

“Oh, hurry up, I’m getting cold out here.”

Cassie whirled around to see the personification of her very thoughts at her window. “Damon?” she asked incredulously, automatically moving to open her window to let him in. Before she could open it, however, she hesitated. He was a vampire and clearly dangerous. This didn’t seem like a smart plan. “Vampires don’t get cold,” she retorted with a scowl, moving away from the window.

“Maybe this vampire does,” he replied with a charming grin on his face.

“Maybe this vampire shouldn’t be creeping around on fire escapes in the middle of the night then,” she replied with a sarcastic grin. “How did you even find me?” she then wondered, beginning to feel wary of the situation.

“Relax. I just got your address out of Stefan’s address book,” Damon answered nonchalantly.

Cassie cocked a disbelieving eyebrow. “And he just gave it to you?” Doubtful given how forcefully Stefan felt about Cassie and Damon being nowhere near each other.

“Stefan was a little indisposed at the moment.” The vampire gave a dark grin causing Cassie to immediately worry about her best friend. “Relax, he’ll live. I just snapped his neck and cracked his spine. He’ll be up and about in a few hours, no worries.”

That didn’t sound like Stefan would be fine. Then again, he was a vampire, so that kind of injury was no problem. It did worry Cassie how casually violent Damon was, however. Especially to his own brother. “Why do you treat him like that?” she asked, deciding to go straight to the source. Stefan had told her all about Katherine and their twisted love triangle, but she wanted to hear it from Damon because despite the honesty and friendship between her and Stefan, she still felt like he was holding something back.

Something flashed in Damon’s eyes for a moment. Cassie barely caught it, but it looked like rage. “Thought you knew all our deep, dark secrets,” Damon replied, a smirk dancing on his lips. “I’ll tell you, but how about you open up this window first?” When he noticed Cassie hesitate, he laughed. “You don’t have to invite me in, I’d just like to talk to you better.”

Thinking this out, Cassie reached forward and opened the window. It was a good point. Vampires could enter unless they were invited, so she was reasonably safe from Damon.

“How much has Saint Stefan already told you?” he asked, once they could easily see and hear each other. Cassie perched on her window sill opposite him so that she was looking diagonally into his face. She quickly gave him a run through of Stefan’s confession. Damon raised an impressed eyebrow. “He told you a lot. He must really like you.” A speculative look entered Damon’s eyes as he appeared to mentally reassess her. But before Cassie could ask, he hastily began his own tale. “The first thing you need to understand is I loved Katherine. Who had her first? Well, that’s just semantics. It doesn’t matter, not really, not to me at any rate. I loved her. Wholly and with everything I had. Stefan… well, he’s convinced she compelled his love. And who knows? Maybe she did. But I was there for all of it. I knew from the beginning what she was, what her friends were. And I loved her still. I begged Stefan not to tell our father what she was, but Stefan was convinced that he would help us. Our father has never helped another person a day in his life. It was Stefan’s fault that Katherine got captured. And if that wasn’t enough, Father shot us in the back for daring to consort with vampires. Better we die than to let us shame our family with the truth. With that, we were in transition. But with Katherine trapped or dead, I wanted to die… but Stefan forced me to turn with him. I loved her. I didn’t want to live without her.” Damon took an imperceptibly small, shaky breath. Cassie barely caught the movement, but pretended she didn’t for his dignity’s sake. “And that is why I vowed to torture my brother for an eternity.” He turned to look her square in the eye for the first time since his story began. “Not exactly the picture perfect tale you thought it would be, huh?”

Cassie shrugged. “I never thought it would be a happy little story. Stefan told me most and what he didn’t say, I could guess the rest. Still, I wanted to hear it from you.”

Damon sneered. “Why?” he asked, his tone turning ugly.

Cassie blinked at him in surprise. “Because your side deserved to be heard,” she replied in a tone that said she thought the answer was obvious.

He blinked in response to that. No one had ever said anything like that to him before. No one had ever cared what his opinion was, not since he and Stefan were children. No one had ever wanted to know. It was always about Saint Stefan and what he wanted. And then came this wisp of a girl asking Damon questions and digging up memories that he had long since buried and then she had the balls to say she was doing it for him.

In a blur of speed, Damon had ducked under the window, crossing inside her room. Cassie stood up with a gasp of shock. “You tricked me,” she whispered, startled. Her hand was up in a defensive manner, though she knew she had no hope of physically taking on a vampire. “How are you in here?”

“It’s an apartment complex,” he replied with a sneer. “You don’t own the place. No invitation required.”

“Then why did you wait outside my window? Why did you answer my questions? Why not just break it and come in?” she asked, tipping her head up violently. She refused to show an ounce of fear in her body language, though she knew her eyes were giving her away. She knew quite a bit of magic, but nothing that could help; nothing that could be used against a vampire. Stupid Klaus. This was probably his fault. Still, Klaus didn’t know about her father’s book and there were a couple of nasty little surprises in there that she could use against Damon. Although, she wasn’t sure how well they’d work against a vampire. If she got out of this okay, she was ringing Klaus and yelling his ear off for not teaching her any anti-vampire spells.

“I wanted to talk to you first. See what my brother saw,” Damon admitted easily, taking a predatory step forward.

“And did you?” Cassie proposed, half curious, half stalling for more time.

He paused, thinking about it. Yes, he did see what Stefan saw. This girl… she was something special. The way she saw deep into a person; into their very soul. She rooted around and found the truth and didn’t allow anyone to try and hide anything. And what’s more, she didn’t judge. She knew the deep ugly truths of Damon and Stefan’s past and yet, she remained friends with Stefan. Even now with Damon pressing forward, she was scared, but there was no judgment in her eyes.

He took another step toward her so that he was right up against Cassie, caging her against her wall. He vaguely noticed that her arm was still bent as if to try and fight him, but he took no notice. What was she going to do against him? What could she do? Nothing.

But instead of attacking her like he had originally considered, he chose to reach out and gently touched a strand of blonde hair, completely startling the young girl. “Yes,” he whispered, finally answering her question. “I suppose I do.” And then he swooped down and kissed her.

Cassie froze in complete shock. What the hell just happened? Half a second ago, she was fearing for her life, about to call on some pretty dark magic to break every bone in his body. Then, out of nowhere, he went and kissed her. What the hell?

It took another second for her to respond.

After all, she had just been fantasizing about it before he turned up at her window. She had better take advantage of this complete lapse in sanity before things returned to normal and she was forced to run for her life.

And his kiss… was like fire. Like her lips were burning off, like she should run away.

She admittedly didn’t have a whole lot of experience with guys, but she had enough. Enough to know that this was likely to be the best kiss of her life. Enough to know better than to back away. Enough to know to reach up and thread her fingers deep into his hair and pray that this never ended.

Damon pulled away with a startled gasp, his eyes wide. He looked more shocked by the kiss than she did. Cassie was leaned back against the wall, mostly using it to stay standing as her knees threatened to give out on her and her head attempted to regain its previous clarity. The two looked at each other in equal surprise, but before she could say anything, he had blurred away, leaving her alone in her room once more, the only sign that he’d been there was the chill from her open window and the fiery sensation still plaguing her lips.

“My life… is ridiculous,” she whispered breathily, her fingertips reaching up to touch said burning lips before her legs finally gave out and she sank to the floor.

~

“I am telling you, Stefan, as a girl, that Cassie will love it!” Lexi near squealed as they patiently waited for the elevator to make its way up to Cassie’s apartment floor.

“I’m not saying she won’t like the gift, I’m just questioning whether she’ll want to spend the day with us. Maybe she has other birthday plans,” Stefan pointed out, adjusting the gift bag in his hand.

“Like what? We’re her best friends and she knows how much I love birthdays,” Lexi said as they exited the elevator. “Plus, I called Amelia to make sure there weren’t any family plans either and she said that Cassie didn’t want a big thing for her big day.”

“So what are we doing here?” Stefan asked.

Lexi shook her head solemnly at her best friend. “My birthday plans are typically, what? Rambunctious, crazy, loud-”

“Illegal,” Stefan interjected helpfully.

The blonde gave him a sarcastic look, but said nothing. So what if maybe her plans tended to be illegal? It was all in good fun. “The point is, Cassie wanted low key, so I made the birthday plans low key. Besides, movie night is like our thing!” Lexi cheered before quickly knocking on the apartment door. They waited a minute before it opened. “Hey, Ms. Blake.”

“Hello, Lexi, Stefan.” Amelia opened the door wider and let them inside. “She’s been in her room for a while so I know she hasn’t left. I’ll just grab my coat and head to work.” Amelia smiled. She was so happy that Cassie was finally making some real friends and while admittedly, Amelia wished they were closer to Cassie’s age, beggars couldn’t be choosers. She reached out for her jacket and put it on, grabbing her purse too. She turned to her daughter’s best friends. “Have fun,” she said with a smile and a wink before leaving the apartment.

Stefan put his gift on the living room coffee table while Lexi set down the movies and arranged them in the order that she wanted them to be played. Then the duo made their way further into the apartment, intent on tracking Cassie down and forcing her to have a movie night with them.

They reached Cassie’s room and were surprised to see that there was no light shining through from underneath the door. Lexi shot a look at Stefan who shrugged in return. Maybe Cassie went to sleep early? Lexi checked the time on her phone. Super early. She shot Stefan another weird look, but gently opened the door and simultaneously flicked on the light switch.

“SUR-prise?” both Lexi and Stefan cried out. They had started exuberantly (or as exuberantly as Stefan got), but catching sight of Cassie’s room, ended up trailing off in confused uncertainty.

“What the hell?” Stefan finally managed to spit out as his brain attempted to put together what he knew with what he was seeing. There, lying on the bed, was Cassie. Okay, normal. There, lying on the bed next to her, was Damon. Not normal. “I mean, seriously, Damon. What the hell?” he finally said, anger building inside once he realized what was going on.

“Relax, Stefan,” Cassie said, attempting to soothe her best friend. She sat up from where she had been half laying on Damon, locked in a passionate kiss.

“Relax?” Stefan sputtered, unsure if he had even heard her correctly. She knew how he and Damon felt about each other. “You don’t know what Damon’s like,” he tried to reason.

Cassie shrugged. “I know enough. I know what’s important. The rest we’ll figure out in time.”

“Time?” the brunette vampire asked incredulously, reaching near incoherency. Cassie had never seen Stefan this off balance before. She had to admit, it was rather funny. If Damon’s smirk was anything to go by, he agreed. “So, wait. Are you two… dating?” he asked uncertainly, the incredulous tone still coloring his tone.

Cassie and Damon exchanged startled glances. They had never put a label on their relationship, mostly because that would involve talking about it, which neither seemed too inclined to do. “Yes, brother, we are,” Damon finally said, reaching a decision.

“Since when?” Stefan asked, even more confused than before.

“Couple weeks.” Damon shrugged nonchalantly.

Stefan’s mouth popped open a little bit and words seemed to escape him. Cassie and Damon had only met a couple of weeks ago when Damon showed up in Stefan’s apartment unannounced. Had they been dating the whole time? Had his efforts in keeping Damon away from Cassie only serve to make him want her more? Was this Stefan’s fault?

There was an awkward silence as they all waited for Stefan to respond, but no words came out.

“Well, I think you just broke Stefan,” Lexi finally piped up. “Okay, so happy birthday!” she cheered, ignoring Damon for the moment. She wasn’t particularly fond of Damon but she didn’t have all the emotional baggage that Stefan did. “Stefan and I are surprising you with a movie night. Obviously, we were the ones who ended up surprised, but hey! That’s life.” She grabbed Cassie’s hand and dragged her out of the room, grabbing Stefan too when it appeared as though he was still in frozen shock. Damon followed the trio out as well. Lexi gently pushed Cassie to sit on the living room couch and Damon quickly sat next to her before Lexi could coax Stefan into sitting. The blonde vampire pouted lightly, but sat Stefan on the arm chair which was not so coincidentally, the farthest seat from his brother. “These are our gifts to you.” Lexi pointed to the coffee table. “Stefan got you the movie snack kit complete with every flavored candy and popcorn imaginable. I am telling you right now, I have dibs on the caramel popcorn,” she said seriously. “And my gift is the complete set of totally awesome movies in multiple genres that I know for a fact you have not seen yet. Tonight’s movie night begins with a selection from France called Amélie.”

When Lexi stood up to turn off the lights, Damon took the opportunity to lean down and whisper in Cassie’s ear. “You didn’t tell me it was your birthday.”

“It’s not,” she whispered back. “Technically, my birthday is next Wednesday, but they wanted to make a night of it. I thought Lexi was coming over next weekend, not this weekend though. Sorry,” she said apologetically.

Damon nodded thoughtfully.

The group started to watch the movie and Stefan slowly began to come out of it. He began to give sidelong looks at Cassie and Damon. Damon had admitted that they were dating, which generally speaking was very un-Damon. He preferred to keep things casual. Even the way they were behaving was un-Damon. Damon had his arm wrapped around Cassie’s shoulders and she was snuggled into his side comfortably. Damon didn’t like snuggling or cuddling or any of those things. The only time Damon touched someone was A. for sex B. to make them uncomfortable or C. to kill them. Cassie was officially D. none of the above. This didn’t make sense with any of the information Stefan knew about his brother for the last one-hundred and fifty years.

“So, how old are you turning?” Damon whispered into Cassie’s ear, making sure that the other two vampires couldn’t hear them.

There was a short silence before she replied. “Fifteen.” Cassie hadn’t realized that Damon didn’t know how old she was. She had assumed that Stefan had told him. She wondered what else Damon didn’t know about her.

Damon gave an imperceptible start as he turned to look at her. Cassie refused to meet his gaze, her cheeks already beginning to blush. She didn’t feel young so she was always embarrassed when her age came up. It was even worse because Damon was older than her. Not just in vampire age, but physically too. She figured that Damon was turned in his mid-twenties, give or take and she wondered how he would take the news.

Damon blinked and seemingly processed before giving a light shrug and turning back to the movie. He didn’t like Cassie for her looks, not that she wasn’t attractive. But he liked her for the way she saw him, the way she understood him. Age didn’t factor into the way she looked at him like she was looking into his soul, so it didn’t particularly matter to him either.

Cassie let out a small, relieved breath when it seemed like Damon was willing to just accept their age difference. She gave him a small smile and rested her hand gently on his knee to show him that she was thankful for his answer. The responding squeeze he gave to her shoulder illustrated that he understood, causing her to smile harder. For some reason, she and Damon just… clicked.

Stefan watched this all from the chair and began to wonder if there wasn’t more to their relationship than what he had assumed was his brother taking advantage of a young teenage girl.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Cassie asked four days later as she and Damon made their way to her apartment. “I can already guarantee that this won’t end well.”

“Tch,” Damon replied. “Parents love me. Especially mothers.” Cassie took a second to glance over her boyfriend. In dark jeans, black boots, a black v-neck and a leather jacket, it was hard to picture any parent happy with him dating their daughter. She did buy that mothers loved him though. MILFs, at least. Then Cassie shuddered at the thought and quickly turned her attention to her front door, lest her mind wander into treacherous territory.

“Mom! I’m home,” Cassie called out as soon as she walked in. “There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

Amelia appeared, exiting her bedroom while simultaneously putting earrings into her ears. She was clearly getting ready to leave for work. “Happy birthday, sweetheart. Who do you want me to meet?” she asked pausing, though her eyes were already trained on the stranger in her apartment. She remained in the hallway that led to the bedrooms, standing right next to the kitchen as she looked into the living room.

“Damon, meet my mom Amelia Blake. Mom…” Cassie hesitated. “Meet Damon Salvatore, my… boyfriend.”

Damon took note of her pauses and raised an eyebrow in her direction, but put on a charming grin. “Ms. Blake-”

“Cassandra. Skyler. Blake,” Amelia ground out, interrupting Damon’s attempt at an introduction. “Are you out of your mind?”

“Maybe you were right,” Damon muttered to Cassie. This didn’t look like it was going to end well afterall.

“How old are you?” Amelia demanded before quickly turning her attentions back to her daughter. “How old is he?” Once again, her attention flipped back to Damon. “You are too old to be dating my daughter! She is fourteen, did she tell you that?” Her head turned to Cassie. “Did you tell him that?”

“Technically, she’s fifteen,” Damon corrected. It was Cassie’s birthday, after all. Amelia’s unhappy look illustrated that she did not like being corrected and that whether Cassie was fourteen or fifteen, Damon was still too old for her daughter.

“How old are you?” Amelia demanded once more.

“Twenty-three,” Damon replied, giving the human appropriate answer. Somehow, he got the feeling the honest answer of one hundred and sixty eight would have earned him a slap in the face.

“Twenty-” Amelia cut herself off. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. Oh, dear God. Cassie had always been such a difficult child growing up; always mouthing off, giving constant attitude. But for the most part, Cassie had grown out of that phase by the time she turned thirteen. Amelia knew that Cassie was due in for some teenage rebellion right around now, but Amelia had just hoped that it would be something tame. Like wanting a piercing or a tattoo. Or maybe to join a nice biker gang. She did not expect this.

“Mom,” Cassie said slowly, seeing that her mother was on the verge of a panic attack. “Calm down,” she advised.

Amelia flew off the deep end. “CALM DOWN?! MY BABY GIRL IS DATING A PEDOPHILE!” And with no other way to let out her anger, she grabbed the nearest object – a frying pan – and hurled it at Damon’s head. Damon’s eyes widened in surprise before he quickly dodged. Cassie’s mouth, meanwhile, had popped open in complete shock. Her mother had never had a violent outburst in her entire life. “I AM CALLING THE POLICE!” Amelia screamed, reaching for the phone.

Damon suddenly realized that he had to step in before things got really out of hand. In a blur of movements, he had crossed the living room and had grabbed Amelia’s wrist from where it was heading toward the phone in the kitchen. Amelia turned to yell at him some more when her eyes caught his. “You are not going to the call the police. I am not a pedophile. I am your daughter’s boyfriend and you are going to accept that,” he compelled.

Cassie gaped, unsure how she felt about Damon compelling her mom. It took a moment for Amelia to settle down though, even with the compulsion. “Well, at least you’re not pregnant,” Amelia said, still under the haze of Damon’s vampire powers. “But I suppose I should hold off on that ‘congratulations’ until after you’ve graduated. Or turned sixteen.” Amelia herself had gotten pregnant at sixteen and hadn’t been able to graduate, instead earning a GED. “Crap, look at the time,” she said, suddenly noticing how long it had been since she came into the room. “I’m late for work.” Amelia grabbed her coat and headed out the door, not even looking back as she left her daughter alone with her much older boyfriend.

There was a tense silence as soon as Amelia was gone. “Told you mothers loved me,” Damon finally said, itching to break the quiet. Cassie looked at him in disbelief before giving a weary sigh and heading toward her bedroom. It wasn’t as though they’d had a lot of options and her mother had been completely freaking out.

Damon hesitantly followed her into her bedroom, unsure if she wanted him to stay or go. She had asked him to come home with her to spend time alone together for her birthday. He had been the one to suggest introducing himself to her mother. It was a stupid idea, now that he thought about it, but at the time he had wanted to show Cassie that she was important to him. After Katherine… after he was turned, he wasn’t very good with feelings and had a hard time articulating emotions like that, so he had hoped that by ingratiating himself to her mother, she would understand what he meant. And plus, he thought it would be funny to meet her mom. From an outsider’s perspective, he supposed it was funny, but from where he was standing, it just seemed like a colossal mistake.

Cassie shed her backpack and threw it into the corner near her desk. With a groan she flopped back onto her bed.

“Cassie?” Damon asked, trying to hide any apprehension he felt as he stared down at her.

Cassie looked up at him, taking a moment to assess him, before giving a sigh and patting the bed. Taking the invitation, he slid in next to her, leaning back against her headboard as she shuffled backwards to that she was laying back half on top of him, the back of her head resting on his chest. Damon took the initiative and grabbed both of her hands, entwining their fingers and resting them on top of her stomach.

“I’m not mad… I think,” she finally said. “I just… want to understand.” Damon looked down at her in confusion, but only saw the top of her blonde head. “Why do you use compulsion? In what situations do you use it?” she asked, snuggling further into him as if she were about to hear a good story and not about to start a discussion on morality.

“As a vampire, compulsion is a necessary mechanism in ensuring the secrecy behind the supernatural,” Damon stated formally, still a little unsure of where this was going. “In other words, it’s how we keep humans from questioning things they really shouldn’t be.”

“But you used it against my mother and she didn’t know about the situation,” Cassie counteracted.

“When you’re given the power to bend people to your will, you don’t end up just using it to cover up your hunting. I tried doing things the nice way,” Damon tried to defend, “but she wasn’t having it. So I had to resort to compulsion to make her stop freaking out.”

Cassie remained silent for a minute. “Okay, let’s talk about hunting then.” She turned around so that her chin was now resting on his chest and her big blue eyes were looking up into his. “Tell me about compulsion as it goes along with hunting.”

Damon blinked, unsure of what she was searching for. “Vampires typically hunt in one of two ways. Either they find a victim, feed and then compel the victim to forget, also known as ‘snatch, eat and compel’ or they simply feed until the human dies.”

The petite blonde tilted her head. “And which do you do?”

“Both,” Damon replied with very little hesitation. He was beginning to wonder if even Cassie knew what she was digging for, but he wasn’t going to lie about what he did. He was a vampire, vampires killed.

“Why do you kill when you can simply ‘snatch, eat and compel’?” Cassie asked, un-phased by his admission.

“Why do you kill animals for meat?” Damon counter-argued.

“Because we need to. To eat and survive,” she replied easily. She didn’t want this to turn into an argument. She just wanted to understand Damon better, to know why he did what he did, what reasons he had behind his decisions.

“No, you don’t. You could go vegetarian,” he pointed out with only the smallest hint of snide in his voice.

Cassie paused a moment as she thought on his words. “Is that really what its like for you to kill a person?” she asked. Is that how he saw all humans? As animals, meat, nothing more than something to be consumed. Is that how he saw her?

“You don’t understand what its like.” Damon sneered. Despite not seeing or hearing any judgment coming from her, he was still defensive of his words, worried of how she would see him now.

“I do,” Cassie disagreed softly. She felt oddly… apathetic to the conversation. She wanted to understand and she didn’t want to judge him. Cassie wondered if she had spent too much time in the supernatural where things like mind control and death seemed perfectly nice and normal to her. “I’ve killed. But I’m not asking about me, I’m trying to understand you.”

Damon looked at her, a little startled. Intellectually, he knew she was a witch and as such was more exposed to his world, but still, to hear that she had killed someone. That had surprised him. But at the same time, it hadn’t. He could see it in her eyes. She didn’t enjoy death, but she knew what it meant. Yes, he could believe that she had killed. And he could believe that she would be capable of doing it again. “You don’t apologize to a cow, do you?” he asked, returning to the subject.

“But that’s different. They’re not sentient, I mean not the way humans are” Cassie rebutted, pleased that he was willing to go along with her questions and not prod into her secrets.

“How do you know that? Because they can’t communicate with you?” Damon asked with a small laugh.

The blonde witch in his arms took a moment to ponder that before making a cute, scrunched up face of disgust. “…Well, I guess I’ll be going vegetarian.”

Damon gave an amused smile and placed a kiss to her temple. “How do you know plants aren’t sentient?” It was mostly a tease, but Damon paused to allow her to consider this. “Don’t apologize for what you are. This is nature; it’s the food chain. You can’t change it, I can’t change it. It just is.”

Cassie took another moment to absorb his words before an amused smile crossed her lips. “Is this your way of saying ‘it is what it is so stop asking questions’?”

He shook his head while simultaneously nuzzling into her neck. “No, it’s my way of saying I’m not going to change. Can you handle that?” he asked, withdrawing enough to look her in the eyes questioningly.

Cassie’s lips twitched lightly into a fond smile as her hand reached up to gently comb through his hair. “I would never try and change you,” she whispered softly.

Damon gave a small relieved smile, but before she could call him on it, he’d ducked down and kissed her fiercely on the lips. Soon, Damon rolled them over so that he was the one laying on her. Cassie brought her knees up to cradle his body as her hands roved up and down his back and into his hair. Damon withdrew from her lips to make his way down her neck, teasingly nipping at her choroidal artery. She giggled lightly, but all laughter was lost as she gave into the pleasure. Damon reached the top of her shirt, stretching it as he made his way to her chest. He was moving slowly, giving Cassie plenty of time to protest if she wanted to. Luckily, she didn’t want to.

As Damon sucked and nipped and tongued the tops of both her breasts, Cassie twined her hand into his hair, tugging when she wanted more. After a few minutes, he withdrew, looking at her seriously for a moment. He would never ask for permission, at least not out loud, but she knew that was what he wanted. Cassie gave him a smile and he knew what it meant. He gently peeled off her top before going back in for another kiss.

“You’re sure?” he asked in between kisses, wanting to make absolute certain. She was only fifteen and he was a hell of a lot older than that. He was a jerk, but he wasn’t that kind of a jerk.

“Yes.”


	5. Chapter 5

“Aren’t you supposed to be my friend?” Stefan asked lowly with a grumble.

“I am your friend. Friends tease,” Cassie replied with a wide smile.

Damon rolled his eyes. “Is no one paying attention here? I am trying to tell you the story of how our poor little Stefan finally got potty trained. I still pity that poor nanny who had to do it.”

Stefan groaned and flopped back onto the armchair. “When you promised to torture me for eternity, this really wasn’t what I thought you meant.” Suddenly, Stefan sat up as if excited for something. “Hey, remember when you’d break my bones and steal my things? Let’s go back to that!”

The older brother chuckled. “Sorry, brother, no can do. See, Cassie has shown me the error of my ways. Any old vampire can beat you up, but only I, as your older brother, can tell horribly embarrassing stories about you to everyone you’ve ever met.”

Stefan turned to look at Cassie, a betrayed look on his face. “Oh, come on,” Cassie answered with a large grin. “You can’t seriously prefer the broken bones.” Stefan’s return look clearly illustrated that yes, he did prefer the broken bones. Cassie just laughed at his misery.

Seeing this, Stefan gave a small smile. He hadn’t known Cassie for long, but even he could tell she was too serious for a teenager. When he had been fifteen, he had been carefree and wild… okay, maybe not wild, but still. Cassie acted like she had the world on her shoulders and he knew a lot of that came from the supernatural and feeling responsible for her father’s legacy. When Stefan had heard that Damon and Cassie were dating, he had thought it was a disaster, but surprisingly, it wasn’t. Cassie understood Damon in a way that Stefan had never been able to and he suspected no one else had been able to either. And Damon got Cassie to loosen up. Cassie smiled freer now and laughed harder and Stefan couldn’t begrudge either of them that.

Although it would be nice if what Cassie was smiling and laughing at wasn’t Stefan.

Cassie reached out to grab a bottle of water, causing her sleeve to roll up and Stefan to wince. After Cassie’s fifteenth birthday last month, she had begun wearing long sleeves more often. At first, Stefan hadn’t noticed anything odd, but then one day, he smelled fresh blood on her. Damon had bitten her on her wrist.

Stefan had been beyond angry at first. He had ranted and raved about how he had “known it”, that Damon was “incapable” of not hurting other people. Finally, when he made to go get a stake, Cassie had tackled him. As a vampire, the force did nothing and she wound up only hugging him instead of knocking him to the floor like she had hoped. Still, it was enough to stop him which was what she wanted.

Then Cassie had explained that the biting was fine and that it was consensual. With a bright blush, she admitted that Damon only did it while they had sex and that he took care not to take too much from her or to hurt her unnecessarily.

Stefan was utterly astounded and then suddenly he was wary. He grabbed her chin and tilted it to look into her eyes, wondering if she had been compelled. Not that there was any way to tell if someone was compelled, but still.

Knowing this, Cassie shoved him off, yelling that she wasn’t being forced and that if she had wanted Damon to stop she had more than enough magic to do so. Stefan hesitated, knowing that she was right, before rushing to his room and returning with a worn hemp bracelet made with vervain. He held the ends carefully so as not to get burned and tied it to her wrist. He cautioned her that just because Damon might not be compelling her now, didn’t mean that he might not compel her ever. Cassie had rolled her eyes, but humored him and continued to wear the bracelet.

“And let me tell you about his first girlfriend,” Damon continued on in the present, gleefully spilling all of his brothers secrets.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. But at least no one’s mother ever threw a frying pan at me… or called me a pedophile,” Stefan replied.

Damon blinked in surprise before turning a glare at his girlfriend. Cassie raised her hands in surrender. “Okay, come on, that was hysterical,” she tried to defend in between giggles.

“So you told them?” Damon asked incredulously.

“Oh, no, brother.” Stefan smirked. It was his turn for a little teasing. “She called us as it was happening and let us listen in.”

Damon gave Cassie a betrayed look, but Cassie could see that he wasn’t really all that upset. She gave him an exaggerated pout and reached out to pat his knee consolingly. “Poor baby.” She laughed even harder when Damon just rolled his eyes in response.

“Wait, ‘us’?” Damon asked suddenly, catching something that he missed before. Cassie gave him her best innocent face which wasn’t very innocent at all. “Right. Lexi.” He gave an annoyed sigh but planted a kiss on Cassie’s temple to show that he wasn’t really annoyed. “You know what that reminds me of?” he said, a certain twinkle in his eye. “One time, Stefan…”

An hour’s worth of ribbing later, Stefan was standing out on the balcony, breathing in the cold air.

“Hey,” Cassie said with a smile as she closed the sliding door behind her, joining him. “I hope you don’t mind the teasing too much.”

Stefan gave her a fond smile. “It’s not too bad. Better than Damon’s usual fanfare.”

“Then why are you out here sulking?” she asked leaning on the railing next to him.

He shrugged. “I think… I think its time for me to move on,” he said.

Cassie looked heartbroken. “Is it because of me? Because I’m dating-”

“No!” Stefan replied. “I actually don’t mind that you’re dating him. I mean, it was weird at first and I was pretty convinced that he was just using you, but it’s been over three months and he hasn’t tried anything. He’s been pretty calm and there hasn’t been a ridiculous amount of mysterious deaths. I actually think you’re good for him.”

“Well, to be fair, this is Jersey,” Cassie rebutted lightly. “There will always be a ridiculous amount of deaths and who knows how many of them were contributed by Damon.”

Stefan shook his head. “I don’t understand how you can be so okay with him killing people.”

“I’m not okay with it,” she corrected. “I just understand your brother. And I understand that he’s not the type of person who can be changed. If he changes it will be because he wants to and for no other reason than that. I understand that he is a vampire and with that comes a level of power and superiority that is hard to beat. Killing goes hand in hand with being a vampire, even you cannot deny that.” Stefan looked ashamed at the reminder of his own bloody past. “Are you sure you’re not leaving because of us?” Cassie asked again.

“No,” Stefan replied. “I just… I’ve been wandering this last decade. I haven’t really done anything beyond… existing. I think I’m gonna go home for a while. Regroup.”

“Home. Wow,” Cassie murmured. She knew what Mystic Falls meant to Stefan, to both of the Salvatore brothers. It was a place Stefan went back to when he was trying to start again. “Okay,” she said softly, her eyes getting slightly wet with tears that she absolutely refused to shed. She reached out and gave him her biggest hug. “I’ll miss you,” she whispered into his ear.

Lexi leaving hadn’t been this painful. Maybe because right off the bat Cassie had known that the woman was a wanderer. Maybe she was upset because Stefan had lived near her for longer than Lexi had. She didn’t know what it was, but whatever the reason, it hurt.

“Be careful,” he cautioned her as they went back into the living room. He gestured toward her vervain covered wrist. He might believe that Cassie was good for Damon, but that didn’t change the fact that Damon was dangerous.

Cassie rolled her eyes in annoyance but nodded back, clearly humoring him. “Whatcha reading?” Cassie asked Damon, trying to get her mind off of Stefan’s departure.

“Stefan’s diary,” Damon replied back.

“Journal,” Stefan corrected in a tone that said he had been correcting the word for the last one hundred and fifty plus years. “And that’s private.”

“Aww,” Cassie cooed teasingly. “Dear Diary, today I ate a squirrel. It looked up at me as it died. That poor little guy will haunt me for the rest of my life.” Damon snickered at her parody of his brother and high fived her.

Stefan shook his head. “I lied. You are the reason I’m leaving town.”

~

“Why do you always look at that?” Damon asked, eying Cassie from the driver’s seat of his blue mustang. It was the first day of summer break and Damon had convinced (aka compelled) her mother into allowing her to go on a road trip with him. Cassie had jumped at the chance to escape for a while, although she now wished that she had asked their destination before blindly agreeing.

Cassie hummed in response but didn’t reply. This wasn’t the first time that she had been caught looking at the scar of his bite on her wrist. She didn’t know why, but she liked it. She was sure generations of witches were turning in their grave at the idea, but still… She liked to trace it when she felt lonely and somehow it made her feel better. Maybe touching vampire bites was a habit of hers or something. She knew that her hand had a habit of going up to touch Klaus’ bite on her neck every time she felt nervous.

“So, are you still not going to tell me where we’re heading?” This was their second day of travel. They had driven over ten hours yesterday before stopping for the night in a hotel in Virginia. He had even mentioned that they were a stone’s throw from Mystic Falls. Cassie had begged to go see it, but Damon hadn’t been interested. She would have pushed if she hadn’t seen the pain and anger still in his eyes even after one hundred and fifty years. With a sigh, Cassie had yielded and didn’t bring up his hometown again.

Damon pondered on it for a second before giving a shrug. “No harm in it, I suppose. We’re about thirty miles out from out destination.”

Cassie blinked as she processed that. She had been avidly reading the signs by the side of the road wondering if each town or city mentioned was their destination. It was because of that she knew exactly what was thirty miles away. “New Orleans?” she asked even though she knew the answer.

“Mhmm,” Damon hummed in return, a knowing smirk on his lips. Cassie had lived all over the place, moving from place to place, but she had never been to New Orleans before.

“You’ve lived here before?” she asked even though she already knew the answer. It was unlikely that Damon would take her to a city he’d never been before. At least, not for their first road trip.

Damon hesitated, but nodded. “Yeah, a long time ago. City was a different place back then,” he said while making a mental note to avoid all of his old haunts. Cassie wondered if he meant the city was different due to Katrina or simply due to time. He parked the car in the Central Business District and got them a hotel room. Cassie barely had time to drop her suitcase on the bed before Damon grabbed her hand and quickly had them heading out to explore.

Cassie had grabbed a map from the hotel lobby but every time she tried to look at it, Damon would grab it and put it back into her purse. He insisted that nothing real was on that map and that the only way to explore a city was to get lost in it first. Over two hours later, Cassie was inclined to agree. She was tired, her feet hurt from walking, she had no idea where she was and she was loving every second of it. Every few blocks or so, Damon would spot a restaurant advertising that they sold the best po-boys, gumbo or jambalaya and each time, Damon went in and bought a small portion to test if they were right. Cassie laughed the entire time knowing what a foodie the Italian was.

“Ooh, what’s that?” Cassie asked, super excited when she spotted an occult shop.

“Just remember that magic in New Orleans isn’t like normal magic,” Damon muttered under his breath as they walked in. Immediately Cassie saw what he meant. The walls were painted a bright red, a stark contrast to most other stores. Hanging from the ceiling were handcrafted voodoo dolls, gris gris mojo bags and more. The back contained shelves of magical ingredients, some of which looked pretty grisly.

“Hello,” a softly accented voice greeted, starting Cassie and even Damon. “How can I help you today?”

“We’re just tourists,” Damon said, smiling charmingly. The woman seemed unaffected by his wiles causing Damon’s smile to wilt a little bit. “We were just looking around.”

“Take your time,” the woman said, moving behind the counter in case they wanted to purchase something.

Cassie browsed the shelves while Damon kept close to her. Normally she’d tease him about personal space, but something about this shop was creepy and she could sense it too. The way the woman’s eyes followed them didn’t help. Cassie picked up a good luck gris gris and a book on the voodoo arts and headed to the counter to pay. Then entire time she avoided the woman’s eyes. She didn’t know why she was so on edge, only that she was. The minute she and Damon escaped the shop, they both let out a sigh of relief.

The two exchanged meaningful glances. “Let’s never go back there again,” Cassie suggested.

“Agreed.” He nodded, grabbing her hand and tugging her far away from the little voodoo shop.

Four days later, Cassie was finally learning how to make her way around the city without needing to sneak a peak at her map while Damon’s back was turned or to stop and get directions from a stranger. She was heading out, exploring alone for the first time since they got there.

“I’ll be back for lunch, I promise,” she said to her boyfriend with a wave as she walked out of her hotel room. She hopped into the elevator and went down to the lobby, grabbing another map on her way out, just in case. She was prepped and ready to take on the town on her own. So it was rather unfortunate that she only made it a block away from her hotel.

“Whaa?” Cassie asked groggily as she woke up. Her eyes fluttered as they struggled to stay open, her back ached as she rested on something hard and uncomfortable. She tried to move, tugging on her wrist. Slowly, she realized that her wrist wasn’t moving. She turned her head to realize that her hand was tied up, grounding her to the concrete she was laying on. She tried her other hand before turning her head to see that one was tied as well. Her head felt fuzzy and heavy and she knew that her brain was working sluggishly. Cassie shifted her legs but was unsurprised to find that they were bound as well.

“Oh. You’re awake.”

Cassie struggled to identify where the voice was coming from but she couldn’t see much and her head pounded every time she attempted to move it. She didn’t recognize the voice and she liked to think she paid enough attention to her surroundings to notice a potential kidnapper, so she had no ideas as to who it could possibly be.

Out of the corner of her eye, Cassie noticed a shadow move. Soon a feminine shape came forward. It took a minute for Cassie’s eyes to focus and for the blur to become clearer. Suddenly, she started. “You!” she exclaimed automatically trying to sit up before quickly groaning in pain and slumping back down. She had forgotten the pounding pain and the fact that she was tied up.

“Hello, again.” It was the woman from the voodoo shop from Cassie’s first day in New Orleans. But her voice was different. Her voice in the shop had been soft, where as now it was strong and loud. “You have no idea how long I’ve had to wait for this.”

“Wait for what? What are you doing?” Cassie asked, her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to ignore her pounding head. She was regretting moving at all, though she knew that she had to if she wanted to get out of this.

“I’ve been waiting for a witch, of course,” the woman stated like it was obvious. Cassie startled before swallowing hard. How did this woman know? “You see, I am a practitioner of voodoo. Have been for, oh, fifty years?” she said questioningly as if she had lost track herself.

But that was impossible. Cassie had seen the woman in the store and even got a good glimpse of her now. There was no way that woman was fifty. She looked like she was in her mid to late twenties. Saying she was thirty would have been pushing it.

Sensing Cassie’s thoughts, the woman answered her unspoken questions. “I have been practicing magic for many years. And there are many magics to make a woman age slower. But there is no way to stop the aging completely,” she explained as she began to putter around the room. Cassie could hear things moving and clinking, but she couldn’t see what they were. Her head was beginning to lighten and she could feel the pain lessen. Maybe soon, her head would be clear enough to think of a way out of this; a spell or something. “I began delving into the dark magic young. And the spell I did to preserve my youth was tied to this city, to N’awlins. It was only afterwards that I found a spell for immortality. And of course, it required a young witch’s heart. Well, eating one, at least.” Cassie felt her breath stutter at the confession. Oh god, this woman wanted Cassie’s heart and not in a romantic moonlit stroll kind of way, but in a ritually cannibalistic way. “The problem with that is this is New Orleans. No witches come here, not if they’re smart. This is the city of voodoo, a different kind of magic. And I couldn’t leave because my youth was tied to my home. So I’ve been waiting and waiting, hoping for the day some young, dumb witch would stroll into town.” Cassie was offended at the implication that she was stupid but considering she was the one who strolled into what was apparently witch no-no land and ended up tied to a concrete table, she supposed she could live with the insult. “And wouldn’t you know it, my prayers to Bacalou and Erzulie were answered when I felt you cross my witch ward. After that, it was easy to cast a spell to lure you into my shop, although I hadn’t counted on your vampire boyfriend. Instead of taking you right then, I had to place a little spell on that gris gris bag you bought while your back was turned. Then I spent four days following the two of you, tracking you until you were finally alone. Girl, kidnapping you took a lot of work.”

“Yeah. Sorry about that,” Cassie replied sarcastically with not a hint of sympathy in her words.

“How’s your head, sweetheart?” the woman asked. “I’m sure its pounding. I nabbed you with a specially herb mixture that’s been in my family for years. Had to guess the dosage for you since you’re on the small side.”

Cassie scowled at the jab at her height, but said nothing. It was better to keep the woman talking. That way, she wasn’t carving out Cassie’s heart.

“I’m so close,” the woman said to herself. “Just need to wait until moonrise.”

“So I guess I’ll be waiting a while. No problem, this concrete is totally comfortable,” Cassie snarked, although she was happy at the prospect of more time before her ritualistic murder.

The woman chuckled. “Oh, I don’t think we have nearly as long as you think, girl. You’ve been out all day. It’s nearly sunset.”

Cassie’s heart pounded in her chest at that. How much time did she have? What time did the moon come up? Where the hell was Damon when you needed him? She’d been gone all day, hadn’t he come looking for her? Then, she mentally smacked herself. Even if he noticed she was gone, how was he to know who took her and where she was. No, her best bet was magic. But whatever it was that the woman used to dose Cassie was severely hampering her magic. It was like her magic was there, but Cassie couldn’t access it.

“I can’t wait for this to be over,” the woman said with a sigh, reclining against the counter to watch Cassie. “I’ve been waiting fifty years. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say the stress was beginning to give me wrinkles. At least I won’t have to worry about that anymore. I don’t know what I’ll tell people at Hounfour. I’m mambo asogwe,” she explained to Cassie, who had no idea what half of the words in that sentence meant.

Not that it mattered. Cassie had spotted a small vial of what she was assuming was human blood and a twig from a birch tree. She assumed what they were based off their magical properties. Human blood to represent the woman’s wish for human rejuvenation and birch which meant renewal and youth. But there was more than one spell these ingrediants could be used for. If Cassie could get some of the blood onto the twig and then chant a spell to bind the twig to the woman, she could kill the woman by snapping the twig. It was dark magic from deep in her father’s book, but it was her only option. Her normal magic wasn’t working.

Cassie had been slowly trying to loosen the rope on her left ankle by rubbing her feet together. It was slow going, but luckily the stranger liked to talk and Cassie’s foot was loose. It wasn’t completely free, but it gave her enough range of motion that she could kick out at the counter and knock over the two ingredients. The vial would break, hopefully getting the blood on the twig. Then all Cassie would need to do was chant and snap.

Cassie waited until the woman was farther away, deeper into the room. Then she waited until her back was turned. The blonde worried about how close it was getting to moonrise, but she knew that she couldn’t rush it. She had one chance. The second the woman’s back was to Cassie, Cassie snapped her leg out kicking both ingredients on to the concrete table, immediately attracting the woman’s attention.

“What are you doing?” she screamed racing towards Cassie.

The vial had broken, but the twig had fallen farther and so remained free of the blood. Cassie hastily used her foot, getting blood on her shoe and then clumsily wiped the blood on the twig.

The woman was close enough now to see what Cassie was doing and it wasn’t hard to figure out what the blonde witch had planned. “You little-” the priestess ground out. This had not been part of her plans. She had used her magic to keep the girl from accessing her magic, but she had no way of knowing the girl was dark. She hadn’t anticipated having to protect against black magic.

Cassie drowned out the insult with Latin as she quickly chanted, but the woman had already made it to her side. Cassie kicked out, catching the woman by surprise in the ribs, but the chant wasn’t finished. The woman grabbed Cassie’s leg and used her weight to pin it to Cassie’s body as she wrapped her hands around Cassie’s neck. But Cassie had an advantage; after all, the woman couldn’t kill Cassie, not if she wanted to complete the ritual.

The blonde could barely breathe, lights exploded behind her eyes and she could no longer speak to finish her spell. Her body went limp as Cassie’s eyes closed.

The woman quickly let go, hastily trying to check Cassie’s pulse to make sure she was alive. But before she could, Cassie’s eyes opened and she kicked out again, this time catching the priestess completely off guard and sending her several feet away. Cassie finished the last of the chant and quickly stomped on the twig. The woman on the floor gave a loud gasp as her spine cracked with the same ferocity as the twig and she collapsed, her eyes open in death.

With the voodoo priestess dead, her spell on Cassie’s magic ended and Cassie easily freed herself. She cautiously stood up, her head still hurting before slowly making her way to the exit. “You probably shouldn’t have sold me a good luck gris gris,” Cassie said with a smirk as she stared down at the dead woman before leaving.

“Where the hell have you been?” Damon asked the minute Cassie stepped back into their shared hotel room. Cassie did nothing but groan and stumbled to the bed where she then flopped forward, passing out in exhaustion. Damon blinked in surprise before taking her in. She looked utterly exhausted. Her jeans were ripped and torn and one knee was scraped and bloody. He also smelled blood on one of her sneakers, but knew that it wasn’t hers. The white t-shirt underneath her black short sleeved top was dirty, mostly around the elbow area. Her wrists were red like they had been bound and after looking closer at her feet, he noticed that her ankles were the same. Wherever she had been, she had been through hell and back.

He gently turned her over and removed her shoes and socks. He then carefully removed her clothes, leaving her in her underwear before tucking her underneath the covers to sleep more comfortably. Then he stripped out of his own clothes and joined her, wrapping his arms around her. He would get the full story out of her tomorrow.

“Get up! Get up! Get the fuck up, Salvatore!”

Damon groaned at the sudden burst of sunlight as they seared into his brain. “What the hell?” he asked as his eyes finally adjusted to the light enough to see his girlfriend running around packing all of their things. They had never set a time limit to their vacation so he was surprised to see her so anxious to leave. Suddenly his memory of last night returned. “What the hell happened to you yesterday?” he asked, sitting up.

Cassie whirled on him, a glare on her face and a frown on her lips. “I’ll tell you what happened. A voodoo priestess is what happened. A mamba or whatever.” She waved her hands around for emphasis. She was clearly off balance. Cassie was normally pretty calm and collected. This incident had clearly shaken her up something fierce.

“A mamba?” Damon asked as he watched her return to packing.

“Yep. She was fifty plus years old and wanted to eat my heart for eternal youth or something,” Cassie explained as she zipped up her suitcase and lugged it to the door. “Apparently New Orleans is no-man’s-land for witches.”

Damon winced suddenly. Oh shit. He remembered that now. Luckily, Cassie had her back turned, too busy packing Damon’s clothes to notice. Soon, his suitcase was zipped and sitting next to hers by the door.

“Well? What the hell are you waiting for?” Cassie cried out, pulling Damon’s arm and practically tossing him into the shower. In less than an hour they were checked out and on the road home.

Cassie was exhausted by the time she finally arrived back at her little apartment in Jersey City. She had refused to leave Damon’s side for the entire trip, which wasn’t that hard since they spent twenty plus hours in a car, but got a bit awkward whenever either one of them needed a bathroom break. Thankfully, Damon put up with her clinginess, knowing that it was his fault that she had ended up in trouble to begin with.

She let herself inside and opened the door for Damon who was carrying her suitcase.

“Cassie,” Amelia said in surprise as she exited the kitchen to find her daughter home from her vacation. “Damon,” she said coolly. He had compelled her not to make a fuss over the age difference, but he hadn’t compelled her to like him and thus got treated to her icy attitude whenever they saw each other.

“Mom.” Cassie sighed in relief and crossed the living room to hug her mother. It had just been one of those days… or couple of days, really.

Amelia looked down at her daughter in surprise. Cassie was fifteen and hadn’t willingly hugged her mother, let alone hugged her mother in front of company, in almost three years. “Honey, what’s wrong?”

“New Orleans sucks. Well, that’s not true, it was great. But the voodoo sucks and I can’t ever go back and I’m really not sure I ever want to,” Cassie babbled before letting go of her mother. “And I just needed a hug. Now that that’s done…” She turned on her heel, grabbed her suitcase and gave Damon a peck goodnight. Then she marched straight to her room to pass out, not caring that she just left her boyfriend alone with her mother for the first time.

Damon looked at Amelia perceptively. When Cassie had mentioned New Orleans, something like worry sparked in the woman’s eyes. Now, Damon could pass that off as normal worry, after all, he had never told her where he had planned on taking Cassie and Amelia might have been surprised to hear that her daughter had gone so far away. But then Cassie had mentioned voodoo and it was like Amelia’s whole body screamed fear.

“You know, don’t you?” he finally asked after a moment of silent contemplation.

Amelia blinked in surprise, drawn out of her own thoughts. “Excuse me?” she said coolly, her distaste evident.

Damon blurred over to the woman, startling her violently, but he quickly caught her eyes and began to compel. “Do you know about magic?”

“Yes,” she replied dazedly.

“How?” he asked curiously.

“I’m a witch, as was Cassie’s father.”

Damon blinked in shock. He had expected that Cassie’s father had spilled the beans, but he didn’t expect the first part of her confession. “Why haven’t you told Cassie?”

“I don’t practice magic anymore. My power was stripped. I had hoped to raise her away from the supernatural and the dangers of it,” Amelia replied, her eyes growing sad as she recalled her past. Damon blinked in surprise. He hadn’t been expecting this. A witch who was no longer a witch. Should he tell Cassie the truth about her mother? Or maybe compel her mother to tell the truth. In the end, Damon decided to do neither. He quickly compelled her to forget the conversation and blurred out of there before she had the time to come out of her compulsion haze.

Amelia had good reasons for keeping her secrets from Cassie and while Cassie had managed to make her way into the supernatural world anyway, it was Amelia’s decision on when to inform her daughter of the truth.

~

“You’re leaving, aren’t you?” Cassie asked, leaning against the door frame of her bedroom. She had been feeling it for a while. He was slowly withdrawing from her, closing off their connection; their relationship. And then tonight… when they made love, it felt like he was saying goodbye.

Damon looked up at her. The light silhouetted her petite frame perfectly. She wore nothing but one of his black v-necks (a shirt she had actually stolen a few months ago), her hair curling around her shoulders messily.

“I’m sorry,” he said instead. He knew that she had felt it and that she was unsurprised. He cared about her. A lot. She had meant more to him than possibly anyone since Katherine. She had understood him and never once judged him. It had been nice to be accepted completely no matter what the flaw.

But it was getting close to that time. The comets would be falling soon and he needed to head back to Mystic Falls. He knew that his brother was there, but Stefan always lived like a hermit in their home town, never leaving the Boarding House. It would be easy to avoid his baby brother until the right time.

Damon looked up at Cassie, worried that she would be upset, but she just walked over and gave him one last kiss. She pulled back and wished him well, chiding him to be nicer to his brother in the future. Seeing her acceptance, Damon gave her one last smile before leaving her bedroom for the last time.

She cared about Damon, but she wasn’t in love with him. She was glad for that chapter of her life though and wondered if she’d ever find true love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the record, I know nothing about voodoo.


	6. Chapter 6

Cassie sighed as she heaved another box into her bedroom. She should have known better, but she had gotten used to Jersey City. They had stayed there for over a year and a half, longer than any other city and Cassie had begun to get used to it, had begun to put down real roots. Granted most of those roots had up and left for Mystic Falls anyway, but still. Cassie had gotten used to the city. So of course that was the moment her mother picked to up and move them to the other side of the country. Denver, Colorado. Home of… well, Cassie had no idea, but she was sure to find out soon enough. And what was worse, now all of her friends were even farther away than they had been before. At least before, Stefan and Lexi had been a couple hours worth of car time away. Now they would require a plane to go see her.

She hadn’t felt this disgruntled since… since… since Vegas.

Even thinking about the desert and the memory of uncontrollable sweating earned a shiver down Cassie’s spine.

At least Colorado was cool. And Cassie’s mom had scored a really good job here and she was going to make enough money that they had actually been able to rent a house instead of their usual apartment. That was something at least, Cassie conceded. She had never lived in a house before. It was nice being able to walk up and down stairs, all around and still have all of it be hers.

Plus, now that Cassie was sixteen and had her driver’s license, Amelia had allowed Cassie to try and get a job. That meant more spending money and hopefully, she could save up and get her own car.

“I’m heading out,” Cassie bellowed as she grabbed the car keys next to the front door.

“Where are you going?” Amelia asked from upstairs.

“Job interview at the bookstore, remember?” Cassie replied, rolling her eyes. Hearing no response, Cassie figured that her mother had no arguments, so Cassie walked out the door and headed for her mother’s car. She drove into town and found the little book shop she had spotted their first day in Denver. She had immediately noticed the help wanted sign and applied on the spot for a part time, after school position. Now, she just hoped she aced the interview and got it.

She showed up half an hour early because she had wanted extra time in case she had gotten lost. She waited fifteen minutes before interviewing. Cassie stumbled her way through her answers at first, but the elder lady had such a nice, jovial personality, that Cassie quickly relaxed. The woman had said she would let Cassie know whether she was hired in the next week, but Cassie had a good feeling. Humming happily, she pushed open the door as someone simultaneously attempted to walk in. “Sorry,” she muttered.

“Apologies,” the man replied at the same time, his attention buried in a book.

Cassie would have gone around and continued on her way but there was something about the man’s voice that tugged at her memory. Turning around to look at him better, she let out an audible gasp, attracting the man’s attention.

“Klaus?” she asked in complete shock. She had ceased her magic lessons quite a while ago having accomplished the basics all witches needed. She spent her time now in independent study. But she still talked to Klaus frequently. Perhaps not as frequently as she had a few years ago, but between her new friends and new relationships, it had been difficult to find time to make secret calls to people she wasn’t supposed to know. It didn’t help that Klaus was a busy person as well and didn’t often have time to stop and chat. They mostly communicated through text and email now.

“Do I know you?” he asked charmingly, though his eyes gave away that he was immediately on his guard.

Cassie blinked in surprise before realizing that the last time Klaus had seen her she had been a twelve year old child. Klaus didn’t change over the years, but she sure had. “It’s me, Cassie Blake,” she said with an amused smile.

Klaus blinked in surprise before a delighted grin overtook his features. “Well, look at you. All grown up.” Surprisingly, he reached out and clapped her on the back, resting his hands on her shoulders to get a good look at her. “You must be, what? Sixteen, seventeen now?”

“Sixteen.” She nodded.

“Well, you haven’t grown any taller,” he commented to her displeasure.

“Just when I thought it was nice to see you again…” She shook her head in annoyance and turned on her heel, continuing on her way out the door. In seconds she heard footsteps following her.

“Now, don’t be like that, love,” Klaus said, sidling up to her with an amused grin. “I was just being honest.”

“You were being rude,” she responded. “And tactless.”

“I hadn’t realized your height was such an issue with you.”

Cassie finally stopped and turned to look at him, crossing her arms over her chest as she did so. “It’s not,” she lied. “But no one likes hearing that they haven’t grown since they were twelve.”

“I didn’t say you hadn’t grown. Only that you hadn’t grown in height,” Klaus replied. Cassie blinked in shock. Was he implying… No, couldn’t be. He must have meant something else. “Why don’t I take you out for some lunch? We can catch up and you can tell me what you’ve been up to these last four years,” Klaus offered.

“What if I already ate?” the blonde asked, although she had a feeling it was more of a token protest and that she would be going with him regardless.

Sure enough, Klaus had an answer. “Coffee then.”

Cassie gave a small put upon sigh and followed him to a coffee shop around the corner. They sat down and while he ordered a plain black coffee, Cassie ordered a Vanilla Chai with soy and a scone. She had lied about already eating and was in fact completely ravenous, but there was no way in hell she was going to tell Klaus that.

“So. What have you been up to?” Klaus asked once their coffee had arrived.

“Since I last emailed you last week? Nothing,” Cassie responded, sipping at her drink. “Just unpacking.”

“Right. I recall you mentioning that you were moving. I had intended to ask where to. I suppose now I don’t need to,” Klaus’ eyes faded thoughtfully as he pondered on this coincidence. What were the odds of Cassie moving to the city he had been living in for the last four months? “What were you doing at the book store then? Don’t tell me that’s your new favorite hangout.”

“Maybe it is,” Cassie replied teasingly over her coffee cup, her eyes twinkling with humor. “You know me. Total bookworm,” she said sarcastically before laughing. It was actually mostly true. She did spend most of her time delving into books; though, she wasn’t sure if magic books counted under the typical bookworm heading.

“No! A young girl like you? You should be out having fun, playing in the fresh air, kissing boys, not knee deep in musty old books,” Klaus teased right back. He quite loved books too, actually.

Cassie blinked. There was a small pang in her heart at the thought of kissing boys. She and Damon had broken up about three months ago now. And while she hadn’t loved him, she still felt his loss greatly. She hadn’t realized how accustomed she’d gotten to always having him by her side until he was gone. It was much the same with Stefan, although she had Damon to rely on when her best friend had gone. Now she had no one.

The blonde witch mentally shook it off. Now was not the time to be dwelling on her lonely existence. She still occasionally talked to Damon. Stefan too. She was not alone. She was just… separated. “No. Actually, I was interviewing. They’re looking for a new part time worker and I applied,” she said, finally explaining the answer to his original question.

Klaus cocked a brow. “A job? Aren’t you a bit young?”

Cassie shrugged, trying not to show how awkward she really felt. But at the same time, she didn’t want to lie. Klaus was the one person she had never had to lie to. He knew the truth about the supernatural. And while she was lying to her vampire friends about “Nik”, Klaus obviously knew the truth. She worked for him. So, no, she had never needed to lie to him. Ever, about anything. And it felt weird to start now, so she didn’t. “My mom has a decent job here so she sprung for a house rental. But even with her job, I know that money will be tight. We’ve never had a house before. So, I thought I’d get a job. Help out a bit and maybe even save some money for a car so she doesn’t have to keep dropping me off everywhere.”

Klaus blinked in surprise. He hadn’t expected such a mature and responsible answer. God knows when he was sixteen he hadn’t been at all like that. Most weren’t. Maybe Elijah, but he’d always been ridiculously adult, even as a child. “That’s thoughtful of you,” he replied. He mentally wondered about a way to perhaps help Cassie. He knew that she would never accept charity; she was much too independent for that. But perhaps, if he did it in secret so that she didn’t know. She was his witch; she worked for him. It was his duty to help insure that she was well taken care of.

Cassie could see Klaus’ mind whirring so she quickly changed the subject. “So what have you been up to? Have you been in Denver long?”

Klaus quickly snapped out of it and responded. The two chatted amicably; Cassie still made sarcastic comments and Klaus still teased her, but it was a good talk. It was nice to be able to catch up and talking about things from an outsider perspective really helped, Cassie especially. She even found herself talking about Damon. She didn’t mention any names, but she told Klaus about her first real boyfriend and how he was a vampire and how they cared about each other, but didn’t end up falling in love.

Their chat ended up lasting almost two hours and at the end of it Klaus surprised both Cassie and even himself when he suggested they do it again sometime. Cassie agreed and it became a bi-weekly tradition.

“Ugh,” Cassie said as she walked out of the bookstore. She had been working there for over a month now. It was nice, having some place to go after school and the work wasn’t exactly difficult. But a boy at school who had shown an interest in her had found out about her after school job and had taken to coming in. Normally, that wouldn’t be an issue, but he brought his jock friends and they were loud, rowdy and messy. She wanted to scream. Just because it was a bookstore, didn’t mean that library rules didn’t apply there too.

She was so grateful that she and Klaus met at a coffee shop only a block from her work. It meant that on days like today, where she was exhausted and annoyed and dragging her feet everywhere, she was only a short, easy distance away from salvation… aka, a vanilla chai latte and a bitch session with Klaus. Oddly enough, Klaus found teenager’s antics amusing and enjoyed listening to her complain about the stupidity of high school.

Cassie walked in, the bell overhead jingling, and only barely managed not to walk into a waitress. She opened her mouth to order. “Oh, can I get-”

“Your boyfriend already ordered your usual for you,” the waitress interrupted. Cassie and Klaus were usuals at the shop and so they were both pretty familiar to the wait staff.

Cassie blinked at that. Her boyfriend? She tried to picture Klaus as her boyfriend and resisted laughing out loud. She couldn’t picture Klaus as anyone’s boyfriend. He was just too… Klaus for that.

Shaking her head, she unwound her scarf from her neck and made her way to their usual table, unsurprised to see him perusing a book as he waited. He had stopped by the bookstore a couple of hours earlier to pick up a new book. Apparently, he liked historical biographies. More specifically, he liked to laugh at all the things historians got wrong.

“Hey,” she greeted, plopping down on the bar stool across from him. Klaus hummed a specific way, which Cassie had learned meant ‘one moment’. She took this time to take a heady sip of the drink sitting in front of her. After a minute, he finished his page and bookmarked it, looking up to give Cassie his full attention. “Did you know that everyone here thinks you’re my boyfriend?” she asked with a light laugh.

Klaus cocked his head slightly in surprise but didn’t laugh causing Cassie’s own amusement to dwindle awkwardly. With an inelegant cough, she quickly changed gears, telling the story of Todd and his annoying jock friends that had spent the afternoon bugging her. But mentally, she wondered. Why hadn’t Klaus laughed like she had? Could there be some truth to the waitress’ assumption. Did Klaus like her?

Cassie attempted to think about it objectively. He was handsome, no one could deny that. And his accent was delicious. He knew her secrets and now, over this past month, he had learned her day to day life too. She could honestly say that he knew her better than anyone else in the world. He hadn’t shown any indications of overt interest in her, but at the same time… Didn’t the fact that he kept coming to see her, to have coffee with her indicate he was interested? Klaus wasn’t the type to stop by for idle chit chat and yet he had been, twice a week for a month.

It was as Klaus was walking Cassie to her car that she finally turned on him. “Do you like me?” she asked bluntly, these questions building up in her thoughts until she was desperate to know the answer.

Klaus blinked in surprise at the sudden question. He had noticed that Cassie’s head was in the clouds during their coffee session, but had put it down to being tired after a long day and wanting to go home. He had no idea that this was what she had been thinking about, though he really ought to have. She had been acting weird since the waitress called him her boyfriend.

“I think you’re a very smart, very powerful, very responsible woman,” he answered delicately.

What the hell kind of answer was that? What did that even mean? “I was kind of looking for a yes or a no,” she replied with a frown.

“Why do you ask?” he questioned instead.

Cassie shrugged with a sigh. “I just… I never thought of you that way. I mean, I’ve known you since I was twelve and I haven’t seen you in person since then. When I think boyfriend, I think… kisses and hand holding and falling in love. And when I think of you, I think of magic and blood and death. Those two don’t really go together.”

Klaus pursed his lips together. “So then why are you asking?” he said a bit defensively.

“Because!” she cried out, throwing her hands up into the air. “That stupid waitress made that stupid comment and now I can’t get it out of my stupid mind!” He looked at her oddly and opened his mouth, no doubt to mock her for that ‘stupid’ sentence, but Cassie continued on. “Because we’ve also been meeting every week for the last month. And because you tell me about your day. And because you tease me about mine. And because… because…” Cassie hands flew out and grabbed the back of his neck, slamming her lips onto his.

Klaus was stunned. He hadn’t expected this. The truth was, he had no idea how he felt about Cassie Blake. He admired her, even respected her. Yes, he liked her, but he hadn’t been sure if he wanted to pursue it. Now, with her lips on his though…

He returned the kiss, wrapping his arms around her waist and squeezing tightly, bringing her closer and higher. She was a tiny little thing against him. It was strange that so much power could be housed in such a small little package.

He groaned when she traced the seam of his lips with her tongue and opened his mouth to welcome her. She had started this kiss and he was allowing her to continue to keep control of it. This would go as fast or as slow as she wanted it to.

Finally, Cassie’s need for air outweighed her need to explore Klaus’ mouth and she withdrew, gasping deeply. She stared up at him with dazed eyes. Her feet were on their tiptoes to reach him, but he held her up tightly so she knew that if she wanted to, she could lift her feet off the ground. The effect made her feel weightless, which was probably not a good thing to mix with her headiness and the strength of his arms. Everything twined to make for a powerful combination; a combination that had her wondering how she could have ever considered not doing this and what it would take to get him to kiss her like that again.

Klaus let her down after a moment and ran a hand through his lightly curled hair. This hadn’t been part of the plan. Well, there hadn’t been a plan to begin with, but if there had been, this would not have been part of it.

God, he was starting to sound like her now.

“You should head home,” he said, his tone a bit gruff.

“Are we going to ignore this now?” she asked lightly, a hint of teasing in her voice. Because she didn’t know how she was going to ignore this and if he felt even a quarter of what she felt when they kissed then she highly doubted he could ignore it either.

“No, we just need to…” Klaus sighed. He didn’t know what they needed to do. He had thought he would have more time to figure it out. He had thought that he would be the one to make the first move. He should have known she would do something infuriating like this. She had a habit of doing that. “Think,” he finished lamely.

Cassie pouted a little, but it was more teasing than genuine. She slowly allowed her hand to trail up from his stomach to his chest. She watched as he looked down at the sensation, his eyes glazing over at her touch. “What if I don’t want to think?” she asked, her voice a bit breathy.

Klaus’ eyes drew up from her hand to meet her own. Their gaze met and battled, but it was Klaus that gave in. He leaned down and planted his lips on her own, this time taking charge of the kiss. But it was late and he kept it short. “Alright, love. We’ll play this your way,” he murmured, pulling away. He wasn’t completely for it, but he wasn’t completely against it either. He guessed that they would just have to wait it out and see how things turned out.

~

“What about you? I know about Elijah, but tell me more about your family.” They were on another one of their coffee sessions and Cassie had just finished telling him a story about her mother when she realized that she knew nothing about his own family. He was a thousand years old; she wasn’t even sure how much of his family lived. She knew of Elijah and Kol through Lexi’s stories (not that Klaus knew about that per se) and that he had a sister named Rebekah, but she wanted to know more.

Klaus tensed. This wasn’t something he wanted to discuss. On the other hand, if Elijah already knew about Cassie, which Klaus knew he did via Meg, then perhaps it would be more beneficial to tell her some things rather than have them pop out unpleasantly later.

“I had five siblings growing up,” he started out with. “There was Finn, Elijah, then me, then Rebekah, Kol and lastly Henrik. Henrik died and the grief is what caused us to become vampires. A spell was placed on us to make us immortal, but immortality does not come without its price. All magic has a price.” He had hoped that by focusing more on the spell, she would be distracted from asking more questions about his family.

Unfortunately, Cassie saw right through him. “The witch who cast that spell must have cared for you very much to want to ensure you never died,” she said softly, reaching out to place her hand on top of his.

He yanked his hand away with a sneer. “She did not care. Not truly,” he spat angrily. “She was the one who cursed me.”

Cassie blinked in surprise. Clearly, whoever this witch was, he hated her something fierce. “What happened?” she asked, keeping her tone soft. She had learned that Klaus did not react well to anger, probably because his anger and rage outweighed anything that anyone else could muster.

Klaus hesitated, wondering if he should tell her. Her blue eyes were wide and open. Looking at her, he knew that whether or not he told her, she wouldn’t push. So that’s why he told her.

He told her about his mother and his father, about the werewolves and Henrik, the spell, his mother’s infidelity and the realization that his father was not in fact his father and finally about the curse. He told her of the divide in his family and the daggers and how there was no one left but him and his brother.

Throughout it all, she didn’t say a word. She just listened and when his story got harsh, she just rested her hand on his own, hoping to soothe him.

When his story finished, she reached out and gently stroked his temple with her fingertips. “You’re not alone,” is all she said.

He turned to her, blinking in surprise. Seeing her sincerity, he reached up and took her hand from his face, gently kissing the fingertips before giving it a gentle squeeze and keeping it in his own.

The next day, she asked her mom to take a sick day and Cassie skipped school and work too. Mother and daughter spent the whole day talking and shopping together. Klaus made Cassie realize how important family was and how she shouldn’t take her mother for granted.

It was funny how much Klaus made her see.

~

Todd walked out of school with a grin on his face. He had just had an amazing basketball practice, red versus green, and he had scored the winning three point shot. He wrapped a small towel around the back of his neck, soaking up the last of the water from his after-practice shower.

He vaguely noticed the sound of a door open and close, but paid it no mind as he stopped to search his gym bag for his car keys. After a few minutes, he found them, but looked around in confusion. He could have sworn he heard someone leave, but there was no one around.

Shrugging it off, he continued on his way to the parking lot. If he left now, he might still have time to drop in on that hot new girl Cassie’s work.

The minute she had transferred in, he had noticed her. She was beautiful. Petite with blue eyes and small pouty lips. She didn’t dress like the other girls at their school preferring leather jackets and stylish boots over high heels and mini dresses. Best of all, she had absolutely no interest in him.

Todd was a champion. He was known throughout the school for his athletic ability and no girl had ever resisted him before. Until now.

Todd had enjoyed the easy girls that came with being popular, but he had to say, the chase was even more fun than he had imagined. Cassie played hard to get, but he knew he would wear her down.

Humming a tune lowly, he walked up to his car. He grabbed the remote to unlock it when he noticed something in the reflection of his paint job. Someone was standing behind him.

Whirling around in surprise, Todd searched the parking lot frantically, but there was no one there. Turning back around, he inspected his car to see if the reflection was still there. Maybe he was being paranoid. Maybe he had just seen a lamp post or another car or something. Looking carefully, Todd didn’t see any odd reflections. Maybe it really had been in his mind.

With a sigh of relief, he decided to double check, just to make sure that there was no one else there. He turned around only to let out a high pitched screech of surprise and fear.

Klaus raised an eyebrow at the girlish sound, but remained silent.

“What the hell, man?” Todd asked as he tried to catch his breath, realizing that the person behind him was not in fact a monster, but a person. Unfortunately, this assumption would prove to be wrong.

“Hello, my name is Klaus,” the blond started off jovially enough. “And I’ve noticed that you’ve taken a liking to my girl.”

At first Todd stared at him oddly. Why was he introducing himself? Then came the second sentence and it all came together. Warily, Todd eyed the Brit. They were about the same height. This Klaus guy looked bigger, but Todd bet he was faster. He could probably take this guy on in a fight.

“That depends on who your girl is,” Todd replied arrogantly. He had this. And if not... Well, this guy definitely did not look like a high schooler and they were right in front of the school. If he beat Todd, then chances were he’d end up arrested and Todd would have a new story to tell his jock friends and the ladies.

“Oh, I think you know. See, every day after school my bird goes to work. And every evening she comes home to me, grumbling about how you just won’t leave her alone. She’s told you nicely, she’s told you cruelly and you still don’t give up. So far, I’ve done nothing. Mostly because I know she would be annoyed if I interfered, but also because I found it amusing. But it’s been three months, mate. Learn to take a hint.”

Todd got it now. He only knew one girl who had a part time job after school and there was only one girl who he went to visit at work. “Cassie Blake,” he said with a nod. “She didn’t tell me she had a boyfriend.” He smirked knowingly. If she didn’t mention a boyfriend, then that meant that she must not care about this guy.

Klaus, on the other hand chuckled. “She doesn’t like to brag.” He smirked before turning serious. “I’ve lost my patience with your antics. You will leave her alone or you will not like the consequences,” he said, deadly serious.

Todd instinctively took a hesitant step back, but bumping into his car jostled him back to his cocky attitude. “If she wanted me to stop, she would have said so,” he replied arrogantly.

The blond snarled, fed up. “She has told you to. You know what, no. I’m done doing this the nice way,” he said, almost to himself before taking a step forward and crowding Todd’s personal space. “You will leave Cassie Blake alone. If she walks up to you, you will turn around and walk in the opposite direction. You will not so much as think of her. Every time you do, you will stab yourself with the nearest sharp implement. Do I make myself clear?”

Todd nodded in a compelled haze. By the time he snapped out of it, Klaus was gone.

~

Cassie felt like her world was on fire. Which, for all she knew it was.

Klaus’ kisses trailed down the center of her chest, as far as her bra would allow, before going lower, trailing to her stomach until he was kneeling in front of her. He unbuttoned her jeans and pulled them down her hips leaving her in bright blue lacy boy shorts and a satin black bra.

He laid soft, wet kisses on her hip bones, using his lips to nudge the sides of her panties lower.

“God, just do it!” Cassie cried out desperately. He had been teasing her all night. Lingering touches at dinner, innuendoes in between small talk… It was like he was trying to kill her.

With a breathy chuckle that sent inappropriate tingles to inappropriate places, Klaus reached up and tugged her panties off, quickly replacing them with his mouth. She let out a muffled scream as she stuffed the back of her hand into her mouth. She would swear there were tears in her eyes, of pleasure or relief she wasn’t sure.

Soon, such thoughts didn’t matter as his tongue brought her to higher and higher heights. “Oh, GOD!” she screamed out, shuddering and bucking against his mouth, one hand slamming hard into the wall behind her as she came. “Niklaus!” she gasped, still riding her waves of pleasure.

As always, the use of his given name always drew his attention straight to her. She had always called him Klaus, so he was surprised the first night they had sex to hear her calling out Niklaus instead. She had apparently taken to calling him by his full name in bed, for what reason he had no idea, but strangely, he found he didn’t mind. The only person who used his full name anymore was Elijah, and even that was only when his older brother was annoyed. He quite liked the sound of her screaming his full name.

While she was coming down from her high, Klaus used the opportunity to rid Cassie of her bra. “That’s not fair,” she said in between pants. Klaus chuckled but obligingly tugged his shirt over his head and his jeans and underwear down his hips, leaving him as naked as she was.

Seeing that Cassie was mostly recovered, he leaned down and kissed her, reaching an arm out against the wall to box her in as he quickly invaded her personal space. He pressed kisses up and down her throat, his hands reaching low to cup the backs of her thighs. With a tug, he had her up and wrapped around him, bringing her level to his height.

“So this is what the view is like from up here,” she teased with a giggle, running her fingers through his hair.

Klaus gave a chuckle before drawing her into another kiss. Things easily turned heated as he slipped into her. He let out a groan and pressed his forehead into her shoulder as she let out a gasp at being filled. He began a punishing pace, knowing from experience that Cassie generally wasn’t much for slow and gentle. He heard her breaths turn into short, harsh gasps as she flew higher and higher. He himself was growing close as well. Itching to hurry things along, he reached down for her clit, rubbing hard in time with his thrusts.

Cassie’s head flew back, connecting with the wall with a hard, painful thud. If it had been any other time, she might have cried out in pain, maybe even cried given how hard the hit was. As it was, she completely ignored it, her intent focused completely on the coil in her gut as it grew tighter and tighter until she screamed, her second orgasm flowing through her. Her hands gripped into his shoulder blades, drawing blood with her nails.

With a roar, Klaus’ came, his face growing veined and dark as his fangs sunk into her neck at the exact place he fed from her four years ago.

A few minutes later, he let a shaky Cassie down on her feet. “Are you okay?” he asked. He had heard the crack of her head hitting the wall, but had been too close to the edge to stop and worry about her at the time. Now, between the head injury and the blood loss, he wondered if she was alright.

“I’m okay,” she promised, but he looked unconvinced.

“I want you to drink some blood.” Seeing her disgusted face, he placated her. “Just a bit.” He bit into his wrist and held it out for her, but seeing her green face, he chuckled. “Right. Not a vampire.” He walked over to his dresser and found his water glass. Draining the last few mouthfuls, he emptied it. Then he bit into his wrist, pouring just enough blood for a large mouthful into the glass and handing it over.

Cassie grimaced, but obligingly took a drink. She fought not to gag at the taste of copper.

“I recommend smaller sips for humans,” Klaus said, unhelpfully.

She glared at him hotly, but her next sip was much smaller and easier to bare. There was a difference between getting a cut and sucking the blood off your thumb and gulping down a glass. Finally, she finished, fighting not to heave it up. The taste was still in her mouth and by now it was purely mental.

She went into the bathroom and rinsed out the glass, quickly refilling it with water and gulping it down. Then she grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste and brushed her teeth…twice. Finally, her mouth no longer tasted like a penny and she left the bathroom.

Klaus was lying in bed waiting for her. She looked at him thoughtfully. Despite the disgusting taste, he had done something nice for her. Her eyes lit up in thought.

“I know that look,” Klaus commented idly. “Either something very good is about to happen or something very bad.”

Cassie laughed and walked over to the bedside table on her side of the bed. She loved that she stayed over often enough to earn her a ‘her side of the bed’. She pulled out a small bottle of something that she had been saving for the right occasion. “Turn onto your front,” she commanded.

He raised an eyebrow at her demanding tone but obeyed never the less. Opening the bottle, she poured a bit of the liquid onto her hands and began rubbing his back, tugging the sheet down to expose it fully.

“What is that?” he wondered, sniffing the air. It smelled like lavender and freesia.

“Massage oil. I’ve always wanted to try this ever since Lucy Liu on Charlie’s Angels,” Cassie giggled.

It had started rather early in their relationship. He had heard rumors of a new doppelganger. Every few decades or so, a new rumor popped up and he always sent someone to investigate only to find out it was in fact merely rumor. This time was no different. He had received the phone call shortly after one of their coffee dates, which they now finally admitted were dates.

Despite the cool mask he put on at the expected news, he had been upset. Always there were rumors and despite this, he always got his hopes up only to end up bitterly disappointed.

Seeing this, Cassie had leaned over and kissed him. Surprisingly, she kept things chaste. She didn’t know much about the situation. Over the years, Klaus had filled her in a little bit. She knew that he was a hybrid and that he had been cursed and that the doppelganger was the key to releasing it. She had seen the small look of disappointment in his eyes when he received the call and instinctively wanted to make it better.

She pulled away and grabbed his hand, leading him to his bedroom. There she sat him down and came up behind him. He had looked at her curiously but allowed her her mysteriousness. He let out a groan when her hands fell to his shoulders and began to massage. It had been a long time since he received a massage. Not since he was younger; a human. Rebekah had often given him one after a harsh sword practice with Elijah. He hadn’t needed the muscle relief since he became a vampire.

But this wasn’t about muscle relief. It was about pure relaxation, about letting go of his disappointment and starting the search fresh. He was a bit disconcerted that Cassie knew him so well that she could sense his emotions, but grateful for her attempts to help.

Since then, massaging had sort of become their thing.

Cassie giggled, climbing out of the bed to quickly wash her hands and to prepare a damp towel. She couldn’t believe he was letting her try this. Then again, he did have a high amount of patience and tolerance for her amusements.

She returned to find Klaus in the same position she left him, lying naked on his stomach with a sheet wrapped around to cover his lower half. Cassie walked over, pausing only for a moment to grab his Henley shirt from the ground and put it on. She reached the bed but instead of climbing in, she climbed up, standing. From where his head was turned, Klaus could now only see the bottom of her legs and he began to wonder what she was up to. He had a vague recollection of the movie she mentioned, but had no idea what she was planning.

She hesitantly put one foot on his back, balancing some of her weight on it. Intellectually, she knew that her weight was nothing compared to his strength, but still, she was careful as she soon stood fully on his back. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Fine, love,” he replied, amused that she was so worried about him. As if her miniscule weight could hurt him.

Now knowing that he was okay, she began using her feet and her full weight to massage his back, which she had coated to facilitate this little bit of creative fun.

Klaus let out a deep groan underneath her. Her massages were normally very good, but as a human, she lacked the strength to really get in deep. Now, using her body weight, she was able to massage much harder into his muscles.

She spent almost two hours walking up and down his back, doing her best to relax him. Soon, she felt him drift off beneath her and she got off. Grabbing the nearby towel that she had prepared, she cleaned off her feet and crawled into bed next to him. With a fond smile, she stroked a curl of hair off of his forehead.

“I love you,” she whispered.

She knew how he felt about love, how wary the concept made him. He wanted it, desperately craved it, in fact. But at the same time, it utterly terrified him. Knowing this, she chose her moments. She only confessed her love for him while he was sleeping. Although, he wasn’t really sleeping. She knew that he was still awake and he knew that she knew, but both kept up the charade because they knew that if they didn’t, the would have to talk about, have to confront it. She knew that wasn’t something Klaus was prepared to do and to be honest, she didn’t want to do it either. It was easier this way. She could get her feelings off her chest, he could know he was loved and neither would have to act different come the light of day. It was perfect.

~

“I don’t like this.”

“I know, love,” Klaus replied, double checking that the last of his things were all in his duffel bag. He had heard another rumor of a doppelganger sighting. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal. He would send someone to check on it and they would inevitably respond back that it was a false alarm.

This time, however, he was going to check for himself.

“Why?” she asked. It was unusual for Klaus to do his own dirty work when he had plenty of vampires to do it for him.

“I told you, sweetheart. This time, the rumor puts her at my home. The village I grew up in before it became the town it is today,” Klaus explained. “The place I was cursed to begin with,” he said darkly.

Cassie frowned. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed that you refuse to tell me which town,” she commented. She knew that Klaus was a suspicious bastard and if the rumors were true, then he wouldn’t want anyone knowing where his doppelganger was until the ritual was complete and the curse broken.

“Look, I’ll go and check it out and if it’s nothing, then I’ll come back,” he replied, quickly checking his watch for the time. “I have to get going, love. My plane is departing soon.” He reached out and grasped Cassie’s hand in his own. They only had a scant five months together. It didn’t seem fair that he had to leave. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she was certain that this was not another hoax and that he would not be coming back to Denver.

“I love you,” she whispered for the first time to his face.

Klaus stroked her face before leaning in to kiss her one last time. That was as close to an ‘I love you too’ as she was going to get. But to her surprise, she was wrong. “I love you too,” he said, pulling back.

Cassie blinked in shock. She had been whispering that in his ear for weeks and this was the first time he had ever responded. By the time she had regained her bearings, the passenger seat was empty. Klaus had left to go catch his mystery plane to his mystery destination.

She should be mad. She should be furious.

She left the airport with a small smile on her face. He loved her too.

She wasn’t sure if she would call Klaus her first love exactly. Mostly because first implied that there would be a second or a third and she just couldn’t see anyone in her future as clearly as she could see him. Cassie supposed that was to be expected at her age, but still… this felt different. She had seen how the girls in her school acted when they had boyfriends and Cassie liked to think she was nothing like that. She had always been different. Maybe she was different in this way too. She sure hoped so.

THE END


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